Ironman competitor made of strong stuff

The athlete is training for the Hawaii Ironman World Championships in October after qualifying for the event when she won last year’s Mandurah Half Ironman for her age category.

‘I like being fit, obviously there is a not a lot of women my age that do this,’ she said.

The Hawaiian event will be Ms Bell’s fourth full competition, after competing in a number of local half and full marathons in the past few years, including the Busselton Ironman event.

She took up competing as a natural progression from her desire to stay fit and active.

‘I am very fortunate not to have any illnesses or any knee or hip problems,’ she said. ‘I’m not to say it’s never going to happen, but I think you do what you can do now.’

She will travel to Hawaii at the end of the month to continue her training before the event later in the year where she will have to swim, ride and run across more than 226kms.