Welcome back! 

Today we're going to revisit an interview with Lisa Bentley that I posted on my previous podcast.

Although she is primarily regarded as one of the best Ironman athletes in the world, Lisa spent the first eight years of her triathlon career racing Olympic distance and representing Canada on several national elite teams at the World Championships and the 1995 Pan Am Games. In 1997, Lisa switched her focus to the Ironman distance, winning her first long distance event, Strongman Japan, and breaking the course record by 19 minutes. She placed ninth in her first Ironman World Championships, beginning a progressive rank improvement that culminated in a third place win at the 26 Ironman World Championships. Over the course of her career she has won eleven Ironmans and sixteen 70.3 Half Ironman distances, and achieved several top five finishes at Ironman World Championships. She had at least one Ironman victory for each year from 2000-2007 and was ranked among the top five triathletes in the world for over a decade.

Lisa competed at the highest level in Ironman despite having cystic fibrosis, a genetic disease resulting in chronic infections and limited lung capacity. Lisa came to see CF as a blessing, fuelling her passion for sport and excellence. Every race gave families hope that their children with CF could achieve similar things in life. 

Since she retired from pro sport in 2009, Lisa has been doing marathons, doing motivational speaking, providing television commentary for CTV Olympic Swim coverage, and CBC triathlon and Sportsnet Ironman coverage. She coaches and does sales and marketing work for other triathletes and triathlon events. She is also an advocate for CF, women in sport, and equality in sport. 

I'm honoured to have her on the show. Her new book is out called “An Unlikely Champion: Finding a path to fulfillment and winning in life”. She is an amazing human being and you are going to absolutely love this interview.

Enjoy!