Canada’s Bentley bounces back from injury in time for world Ironman race

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 11/10/2007 (6665 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Lisa Bentley’s health and confidence are back just in time for the Ford Ironman World Championship.

The 38-year-old from Caledon, Ont., who finished third last year, was forced to take two and a half months off of running during the summer to heal a heel. Bursitis and tendinitis in her right heel were so painful that Bentley was forced to walk the final 12 kilometres of the marathon of Ironman Australia in April.

She wanted to finish the race because she wondered then if she’d ever get to the start line of another Ironman.

Bentley did because she won the Subaru Ironman Canada on Aug. 26.

After winning her third Canadian title and with her heel less of a question mark, Bentley feels physically and mentally prepared to challenge for a world championship Saturday in Kona, Hawaii.

The race is a 3.9-kilometre swim in the Pacific Ocean and a’0-kilometre bike race and marathon run of 42.2 kilometres over lava fields baked by wind and heat.

About 1,800 triathletes, including over 110 Canadians, will compete for US$580,000 in prize money. The men’s and women’s champion each earn $110,000.

Bentley has won 11 Ironman races around the world during her career, but not a world championship.

“I plan to have the ride and swim of my life,” Bentley said from Waikoloa where she’s training. “My running, it’s starting to feel like it used to feel again.

“I feel confident that I’m going to be able to run fast out there. I’m going to start the run as a runner again.”

She’ll attempt to become the fourth Canadian woman to win a world title after Lori Bowden (2003,’99), Heather Fuhr (1997) and Sylvaine Puntous (1983-84).

Bentley has finished sixth, fifth, fourth and third in the world over the last five years. She didn’t finish the race in 2005 because she suffered a ruptured appendix during it.

“I have grown to love this race,” Bentley said. “For a lot of years I didn’t. It was hard, hot and windy and lots of pressure, but I’ve kind of gotten over that.

“I’ve been here for two and a half weeks training on the course, so it’s my home course now. I know every inch of the course now. It doesn’t scare me at all, this race.”

There’s rarely a year where a Canadian woman isn’t contending for a world Ironman crown. Bentley will be joined in the women’s pro field by Samantha McGlone of Otterburn Park, Que.

McGlone, who raced the Olympic triathlon in 2004, won last year’s world half-Ironman championship and is stepping up to do the full distance.

The Canadians will be up against defending champion Michellie Jones of Australia and six-time winner Natascha Badmann of Switzerland.

Former Canadian men’s champions Jasper Blake of Victoria and Tom Evans of Penticton, B.C., are in the men’s field, which is expected to be a duel between defending champion Normann Stadler of Germany and former champions Chris McCormack of Australia and Faris Al-Sultan of Germany.

The upside of Bentley’s injury was that she was able to throw her efforts into swimming and biking, her weaker of the three disciplines, in between therapy sessions on her heel.

She aggressively treated her injury with acupuncture, massage and physiotherapy. She spent 60 hours in a hyperbaric chamber, which delivers high concentrations of oxygen into the body, and got caught up on her television-watching at the same time.

“That was when I discovered Prison Break and 24,” she said with a laugh. “I bought those DVDs and watched them because you could get a bit of sound in there.”

She had been undecided about racing Ironman Canada, but knew that she needed to test herself before the world championship because she’d taken a long break from running.

“I didn’t want my first race to be the Ironman in Hawaii because it’s pretty cutthroat,” Bentley explained from Kona. “No one cares about you. A couple of years ago I ruptured my appendix and no one really cared.

“In Ironman Canada, I knew I’d be surrounded by friends and family and it would be a lot easier to take whatever happened to me that day.”

She’s also made peace with the expectations that come along with being dubbed “one of the favourites,” in Hawaii.

“I’ll try to put aside all the things associated with it, which is the pressure, and I think the benefit of my’ years of racing experience and my 38 years of living, is learning that,” she said. “I should never feel pressured by my success and that’s what we tend to do.

“I’ve won 11 Ironmans and therefore, I am expected to win in Hawaii sometime in my career. It’s a compliment to be considered a favourite, as opposed to pressure and this is probably the first year where actually I realize that.”

A quick look at the 2007 Ford World Ironman Triathlon Championship on Saturday in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii:

Course: A 3.9-kilometre ocean swim,’0-kilometre bike race and marathon run of 42.195 kilometres.

Defending champions: Normann Stadler, Germany; Michellie Jones, Australia.

Start time: 7 a.m. local time (1 p.m. ET). Men’s course record is eight hours four minutes eight seconds, women’s is 8:55.28.

Field: About 1,800 competitors, including 110 Canadians, from over 50 countries.

Prize money: US$580,000. Men’s and women’s champions each get $110,000.

Who to watch: Men: Stadler, Germany; Chris McCormack, Australia; Faris Al-Sultan, Germany; Women: Jones, Australia; Natascha Badmann, Switzerland; Lisa Bentley, Canada.

On the web: www.ironman.com.

Television: NBC, Dec. 1, 4:30 p.m. ET.