At the beginning of last year, Paige Waddington didn't know what an Ironman was, but she has very quickly found herself in the thick of the sport – and its financial burdens.
Waddington is gearing up for this year's Ironman World Championships in Iceland in August, but the first time she'd actually heard of the sport was when she signed up for last year's race in Taupō.
“I was like, ‘oh, should I sign up?’ I knew about triathlons of course but not the Ironman itself,” Waddington said.
“Initially, I was biking to work and I thought, ‘this is quite fun, I might start doing it as exercise’ and then got into biking a little bit more just to and from work commuting and then I had my running.
“I had someone I knew that had done [an Ironman] previously so I thought I'd flick her a message and she said, ‘definitely do it, you won't regret it’ so I just entered.”
Waddington eventually signed on for an Ironman 70.3; a half Ironman which features a 1.9km swim, a 90km bike ride and a half marathon.
Despite her whimsical attitude towards entering, Waddington made a statement in her debut as she finished second in her category [females aged 18 to 24].
“I came off the bike and my mum and sister were like, ‘you're in third place! Go! Go! Go!’
“I knew that running was my stronger point so I decided to pick it up a bit and that gave me a bit of confidence.”
One world qualification spot was up for grabs in her category but there's a catch; To claim it, you must be at the award ceremony the next day.
“We saw the girl that beat me stand up and leave," Waddington said.
"Me and my parents just looked at each other like, ‘oh no, what's going to happen here?’ And that was the point I kind of clicked that it was going to roll down to me and I had to make a decision on the spot.”
That led the 24-year-old to discovering another catch; you have to pay the $1300 entry fee then and there after committing to it.
Despite the sudden price tag, Waddington was all in.
“I would've regretted it if I had said no,” she said.
“It's not really something you can say no and then go back and be like, ‘hey, I actually want to compete’.”
Now with a proper coach, Waddington fits hundreds of kilometres of training around her full-time job as an audiologist and raising money for the self-funded trip.
“Before work, after work, during work, I’m thinking about it, getting into training straight away before it gets too dark.”
Qualifying may have been an accident, but the rest of Waddington’s journey definitely won't be.
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