Launceston athlete Louise Davoren rates finishing seventh in this year's Hawaiian Ironman event more highly than winning a Commonwealth Games gold medal in 1994.
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It's a measure of the great respect athletes hold for the Hawaiian Ironman and the physical and mental challenges it throws up to anyone brave enough to take it on.
The Hawaiian Ironman is also an event with a huge following _ not long after the race start, the official Internet site had 5 million hits from people wanting updates.
Among all this attention and the 1500 competitors jostling for the finish line, a diminutive Launceston physiotherapist made her mark on history.
Louise, 28, last Sunday set the fastest time ever recorded by an Australian woman in the gruelling event.
She completed the 3.86km swim, 180km bike ride and 42.1km run in a time of 9 hours, 38 minutes. Her seventh place was an improvement on 1997, when she debuted in the race and finished ninth. This time, crossing the finish line was much sweeter.
``I think the first time I went people thought it was a bit of a fluke, so to go back and improve and finish seventh, it shows people it wasn't a fluke,'' she said.
Arriving back home yesterday, Davoren, 28, had difficulty climbing the stairs at Launceston Airport, her legs still stiff and swollen from a race which takes competitors to the brink of physical breakdown.
She had no hesitation in saying her finish in the Hawaiian Ironman was even more special than the Commonwealth Games cycling gold medal she won in the teams time trial as Queensland-based Louise Nolan in 1994.
``It's an individual event and I think it's one of the hardest if not the hardest events in the world,'' she said.
Husband-coach Bill Davoren said that his wife had completed the race of her life.
``She was just so tough and she didn't give in all day,'' he said. ``It was pretty emotional. Yeah, I was pretty watery in the eyes.''
Bill Davoren also coached both Launceston's Mark Guy and Ulverstone's Craig Redman to complete the epic race in under 10 hours.
He said the results answered critics who believed he pushed his athletes too far.
Louise automatically qualifies for the 2000 Hawaiian Ironman and she intends to compete.
She will rest for a few days, then return to work at a Riverside practice next week. The Davorens are moving to Runaway Bay in Queensland next month, where he will set up a triathlon squad and she will enjoy training in the sun.
Louise said she would compete for perhaps another two years and then consider starting a family.
