Mysuru: Dr. Usha Hegde from Mysuru city has become the first woman to finish the Ironman Western Australia 2019 Triathlon. The event was held on Nov. 30 and Dr. Usha completed the feat in 14 hours and 30 minutes (14:30:24). Earlier this year in May, Prajwal Prasad became the first Mysurean to finish the Ironman Challenge. 

An Ironman Triathlon is one of a series of long-distance triathlon races organised by the World Triathlon Corporation (WTC), consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.86 km) swim, a 112-mile (180.25 km) bicycle ride and a marathon of 26.22-mile (42.20 km), raced in that order back-to-back. It is widely considered one of the most difficult one-day sporting events in the world. 

Dr. Usha Hegde secured 907th place among 1169 participants and she got 164th place among 229 women participants. In her age group of 45 to 49 years, she secured 26th place out of 32 participants. In swimming, (3.8 km) she took 01.48.04 to complete, In cycling (180 km), she clocked 07.46.20 and in the final run (42.2 km), she clocked 04.34.19. 

Dr. Usha Hegde is a dentist and Head of the Department of Oral Pathology and Microbiology, Department at JSS Dental 

College in city. 

Speaking to Star of Mysore from Australia this noon, an elated Dr. Usha Hegde, a certified Ironman coach, said that she was happy to achieve this gruelling feat. “More than 35 to 40 Indians participated in the Ironman Western Australia and I was the only one from Mysuru,” she said.

Dr. Usha, who has been running marathons for five years now, said that she trained for this triathlon for nearly three years till she could make the qualifying time.

Dr. Usha is the wife of Dr. Ajay Hegde, a renowned Orthopaedician in city. Dr. Usha has two sons Akarsh Hegde and Aryav Hegde. 

Dr. Ajay Hegde accompanies her in every event and has been a great support to her. “He has stood behind me to pursue my passion for fitness and Ironman challenges,” she said. 

Usha Hegde’s achievement comes just days after Five Mysureans — Veera Manikanta, Abdul Hannan Khan, Dr. Sujeeth Shetty, B.N. Sudindra and Manju Ganesh — participated and successfully completed ‘Ironman 70.3,’ India’s first triathlon race held in Goa on Oct.20 this year.