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On Sunday, 41 years after becoming the first woman to complete an Ironman triathlon in Canada, 81-year-old Dyane Lynch was in Penticton to cheer on her fellow athletes.

Since that day in 1983 when she crossed the finish line and made history, Lynch has been invited by race organizers several times to share her insights from that moment, for which she is “deeply grateful.”

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In 1983, Lynch didn’t wear a wetsuit, she didn’t drink high-potency gels for energy, and she didn’t worry much about being the only woman in a field of men.

“I was training for the Hawaii Ironman,” recalled Lynch, who was an avid marathon runner at the time and lived in Banff. “The group I was training with drove to Penticton, and I went along to see what my time was.”

The Ironman triathlon is a race that consists of 3.9 kilometers of swimming, 180.2 kilometers of cycling and a marathon (42.2 kilometers) – all in one day.

About halfway through the 180-kilometer bike leg of the race, her blood sugar level dropped. She wanted to give up.

“I knew I couldn’t give up,” she said.

Lynch remembers going “deep inside” and accepting her feelings, including the pain. She kept telling herself, “I’m not a slacker, I’m not a slacker.”

Now, as she faces the challenges of her eighth decade, this mantra gives her the strength to persevere and do the things she enjoys.

“I finished the race one pedal at a time,” Lynch said. “I just kept going.”

After decades in BC, this weekend’s Ironman competition in Penticton will be the community’s last. The triathlon will move to Ottawa in 2025.

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On Sunday, organizers decided to cancel the swimming portion of the race because air and water temperatures were too low based on international and BC rules.

Lynch completed two Ironmans before retiring from triathlon. She returned to Ireland to care for her ageing parents and started a family of her own.

After returning to Canada, the time-consuming Ironman training was not possible for her as a single mother raising her son. But she never stopped staying active and she credits her current mobility to her lifelong commitment to physical activity.

Lynch recently returned from Nepal, where she did a somersault down a marble staircase after spraining her ankle in flip-flops. “I didn’t break anything,” she said.

She has hiked the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal, reaching its highest point, the edge of the Tibetan Plateau at Thorong La Pass (5,416 metres or 17,769 feet); she has also hiked to Machu Picchu and walked the Camino de Santiago in Spain.

Lynch has the Ironman logo tattooed on her ankle, not out of pride, she said, but as a reminder of the gratitude and sense of connection she feels when she is active – a feeling she describes as “almost spiritual.”

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“When I feel weak or experience any of the things that happen to you as you get older, I look at it and say, ‘Dyane, you can do this.'”

Lynch, who is retired but still teaches English in Nepal, said she hopes her experience will help others recognize their own resilience when they feel like giving up. “Think about the things you’ve done, whether it’s gardening, raising kids or an Ironman, remember your strengths and go to that place of strength.”

When she faces a challenge, she draws on the determination that got her through her first Ironman so many years ago. “When I face a challenge in life, I remind myself that there is a reason for me to be here in this moment and I keep going,” Lynch said.

She admits that she has a few osteophytes here and there in her joints and that she sometimes has to “cheat on the stairs,” but is often surprised when someone offers her a seat on the bus.

“I look old, but I don’t feel old,” she said.

And even though she has no problem keeping her balance on a bumpy bus, when someone offers her a seat, she simply smiles and accepts.

“I’ll sit down,” she said. “You have no idea!”

After more than 30 years

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