Hawaii Ironman Triathlon Finish 2006Now for one of the great stories of Hawaii Ironman Triathlon 2006 in Kona. I'm down at the finish line taking it all in during the last hour of Ironman and the story developing is whether or not sister Madonna Buder will finish the race by the 12AM deadline. Lots of athletes don't finish, that's not unusual. What is different here is that sister Buder is 76 years old. She is the oldest woman to ever finish an Ironman race. In 2005 she finished with an hour to spare. This year it's going to come down to the last minute. She finished with 57 seconds on the clock. It was amazing, the announcer said she was just turning on to Palani Rd with about 10 minutes left on the clock and the question was would she make it to the finish line before time run out. I took this picture of the clock just after she past the finish line. Notice only 45 seconds left. Phew that was close. Thousands of people down at the start finish line cheered her on in hopes that she could hear them as she ran the final block of the race. When sister Buder crossed the finish line with only 57 seconds on the clock the crowd went nuts! When asked something to the effect of how'd you do it? She said "My nephew just passed away a few weeks ago and I asked him if you're in a better place now help me finish this race if you can"
The place just exploded with applause. And that was the end of Hawaii Ironman 2006 Notable Quote: In an article in Extreme Tri Magazine Dave Scott who has watched sister Buder race many years said "She comes across as happy-go-lucky but she certainly has venom in her boots when the gun goes off - she trounces all her competitors."
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