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Journalism of Courage
There’s no age limit for someone to become an inspiration for others – it could be a child or, as in Natalie Grabow’s case, an 80-year-old American grandmother.
Grabow learnt how to swim at the age of 59 and has now become the oldest woman finisher at the Ironman World Championship.
Grabow, who lives in Mountain Lakes, New Jersey, jumped into the ocean at Kailua Bay, Hawaii, for a 2.4-mile swim, then got on her bike to cycle 112 miles on a challenging course filled with lava fields and buffeted by coastal headwinds. That was followed by running 26.2 miles – the length of a marathon – NPR reported, adding that the course had an uphill gradient of more than 1,000 feet.
Grabow completed the triple-challenge in 16 hours, 45 minutes, 26 seconds, well within the cutoff of 17 hours. More than 60 participants among the 1,600-plus who started failed to finish.
She was greeted by loud cheers and a crowd chanting her first name at the finish line. The octogenarian was the sole entrant in the 80-84 age group for the women’s championship. What made her achievement even more memorable was that the first person to congratulate her at the end was the person whose record she had just broken, Cherie Gruenfeld, who finished the task as a 78-year-old in 2022.
The oldest person to complete the Ironman World Championship is Japanese male athlete Hiromu Inada, who was 85 when he raced in 2018.
Grabow said she had learnt to swim so she could compete in a triathlon.
“It was a big hurdle I had to overcome,” Grabow told NPR.
“I am so happy and grateful that I can still race in this sport at my age,” she said, adding “Triathlon allows me to feel strong both mentally and physically, and it satisfies my competitive spirit.”
During the race, she was supported from the sidelines by her daughter Amy and her coach Michelle Lake.
“Natalie is the definition of grit and gratitude – grateful to make it to the start line, grateful to get to do something she loves everyday, and grateful to inspire so many others. And she’s truly gritty,” Lake said.
Grabow had a career as a software engineer in her younger days, when she had a passion for running. But injuries held her back.
“The cross-training aspect of triathlon appealed to me, and this type of training reduced getting injured,” she said. “Seeing my running friends take up triathlons motivated me to try it for both the challenge and the fun.”
