Race Report: Hughes shines at the IRONMAN World Champs

Over the last few years, Hilary Hughes has taken the domestic triathlon scene by storm… twice becoming Middle Distance National Champ, winning the BMW Triathlon National Series, and adding a Duathlon National Champ title at her first ever duathlon!

In 2021, Hughes set her sights on completing her first IRONMAN at one of the toughest courses in the world…Lanzarote. Not only did she complete, she won her age group and finished seventh woman overall! In doing so Hilary qualified for the World Champs, held last month in St. George Utah, USA.

Read Hilary’s account of her first IRONMAN World Championship experience below…
(SPOILER ALERT: She smashed it!)

Hilary Hughes Recaps her 2022 IRONMAN World Champs

Getting over the crest of that last climb, I had 5km of downhill to the finish and I knew I was home. I really enjoyed the last 5km soaking in the crowds, reminiscing about the fun we had over the last 10 days and thankful to know I’d cross the finish line happy with my performance.

It was an early start that morning, 3.45am alarm! Drive into town, park up and drop off my special needs. Then at 4.45am  jump on an Ironman shuttle bus to bring us 30 minutes out of St. George to Sand Hollow Reservoir. My race didn’t start until 7.54am so I had plenty of time to place my nutrition on my bike, check tyres, check gears, make sure the bike didn’t have a knock over night, warm up, keep fuelling, get my wetsuit on and get my head in the game.

An Eventful T1

The water temperature had been 15 degrees celsius during the practice swims organised by Ironman in the days leading up to the race. It was pretty chilly! However on the day, it was a little warmer and that was a welcome surprise as I took my first few strokes. The swim itself was straightforward enough with a very clearly marked course. It was busy! As all the male age groups and nearly half of the female age groups had started before us. I didn’t manage to find any feet but stayed relatively on course, stayed out of trouble and steadily made my way around! I completed the one lap of 3.8km in a time of 1 hours and 8 minutes, not where I want to be, but progress!

T1 was interesting! As I ran out of the water there was a line of wetsuit-strippers! Ironman anticipated athletes not being able to get their wetsuits off due to frozen hands. In theory, a great idea!

Up I ran to an unassuming, slightly more elderly, smiling enthusiastically wetsuit-stripper… and so ensued a comedy show for all the spectators! It started well, definitely unzipped quickly and the top half was off … then we hit the ankles, very quickly things went south and I had my legs in all sorts of positions as she was yanking the wetsuit with all her might, but we were getting nowhere. My contorted shapes quickly led to cramping and I found myself leaning on top of my wetsuit-stripper friend as she was bent over tackling my ankles (as if her job wasn’t hard enough!).

Thankfully we didn’t fully topple over and eventually we got there. I thanked her and as I ran on to get my bike I couldn’t help but laugh – definitely not something I foresaw as eating up my time T1.

The Bike

Onto the bike and off we go! The first 50km was spent navigating around many riders, avoiding dropped bottles, shouting ‘on your left’ and trying not to have to slow down. It was during this time I realised just how many athletes were competing – the field was huge! So many seasoned Ironman cruising along and shouting encouragement! The roads were wide, smooth and rolling and early on the temperature was pleasant so life was good in spite of some remaining ‘tingles’ from my left glute cramp! The only blip really, happened at about 70km when I realised my bottles and bottle-holders had fallen off my bike. Not ideal! I still had my gels but aid stations were the saviour.

Much Coke, Gatorade, water and Redbull was smashed down between the start and ‘end of trash’ of each station! From about 90km we started the 40km rolling ascent to Veyo where the main spectators were the local, free-roaming, cattle. Out of Veyo we descended into town but we weren’t done yet.

A right turn and we were back on lap 2 which took us through the stunning Snow Canyon. At 160km, a short but punchy climb through the Canyon, when the wind dropped and the heat scorched, made for a tough 15 minutes but just as I arrived at the top feeling a little cooked, Annalise and Cian were there, with music blaring (Du Hast by Rammstein specifically), an Irish flag and words of motivation to freshen me right back up for the final descent into town.

I completed the 180km with 2248 metres of elevation in 5hours and 31 minutes. I rolled into T2, handed my bike over to a volunteer…. just me and my runners now, happy days!

The Run

For me, the run was the best part. The crowds were buzzing, little kids with posters cheering…‘smile if you pee’d on the bike’, people with hoses spraying cold water and aid station volunteers whose encouragement only got stronger as the day went on. The run was 2 laps with two climbs of 5km on each lap which meant two descents of 5km – you were really going up or down for the whole thing.

When I was halfway up the first climb my parents and brother Turlough told me I was in 5th overall (what!!!) and sent me hunting! Although I felt good I knew it was early on and my coach’s words of ‘the race begins at 20km’ were ringing in my ears. So I kept it steady. It definitely got hot out there and I walked a few aid stations just to make sure I got the whole cup of Coke or water down before going again. Thankfully though, no blips on the run, just free falling on the descents and ticking off the kilometres on the ascents one at a time. Enjoying passing my parents, brother and friends giving me position updates and the most wonderful encouragement.

Familiar Faces at the Finish Line

Soaking it all in on the last descent I came down the finishing chute with a big smile on my face, to my mom, dad and brother cheering. I was called across the finish line by Joanne Murphy, our very own professional event MC and now the first female voice of Ironman Championships. For me at that moment, in my second full distance Ironman, it couldn’t have gotten much better than that! I completed the 42km run with 431 metres of elevation in 3hours and 25 minutes. My  total time was 10 hours and 13 minutes.

I finished 2nd in my age group, 4th amateur female overall and top amateur female in Irl/UK . Job done!

The performance and the result were really only the cherry on top of a wonderful experience at the Ironman World Championships in St. George, Utah. All week long in the build up, our Irish contingent (all mentioned above plus Niall Mc Carthy and his mom Liz) had a blast . The red rock cliffs wrapping around St George never ceased to amaze us, we had a great time exploring on bikes, bumping into rattlesnakes, spotting who’s who at the Ironman Expo, training swims in Sand Hollow Reservoir, a trip to Vegas for some!, finding one of only two state liquor stores, bbq’s, dinners out in St. George, coffee trips and chilling in the sunshine.

All in all, it can take a bit of work to get there, physically, mentally and logistically but if you have a chance I couldn’t recommend it more and to all those who will be travelling for the 70.3 Champs later this year – I’m so excited for you!!!!

Thank you so much to everyone who messaged me and supported me throughout and thanks to my sponsors Base2Race and Prime Components.

Cheers to the start of the season!