A new start after 60: I did my first Ironman at 61 – after my husband bet I couldn’t beat him

Carmen Francesch has always been active, but it was only in 2015 that she started competing. It made her determined to push herself much further …

In 2022, at 61, Carmen Francesch began her first Ironman challenge. After travelling to Barcelona from her home in Surrey, Francesch plunged into the warm waters of the Mediterranean for a 2.4-mile swim before pulling herself to shore and running to her bike for a 112-mile cycle. “I was so happy and excited to be competing that it was only after I’d finished cycling that my legs gave way,” she says. “We had to run a marathon to finish the challenge and, 8km in, I stopped moving. I had to walk the rest of the way and only crossed the finish line after 15 hours. I said to my husband: ‘Never again.’”

A year later, Francesch was in Kona, Hawaii, facing another open-sea swim, gruelling bike ride and marathon run to compete in the Ironman world championship. “After Barcelona, I was on crutches for two days because my legs were black and bruised,” she says. “But once I had healed, the feeling of finishing such a huge undertaking was indescribable. I know I said I wouldn’t do it again, but when I found out I had qualified for the world championship, I felt I had to give it a go.”