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A COURAGEOUS expat mum has stepped forward for a second time to compete and finish one of the most grueling sporting events to raise money for a wildlife charity and highlight its cause.
Last year Kirsty McKay, despite suffering from arthritis, put her best foot forward to cross the Ironman70.3 Middle East Championship Bahrain, as highlighted in GulfWeekly.
After completing the triathlon, featuring a swim, bicycle race and run, with arthritis pain coursing through her feet, McKay decided to return to her home country of Scotland and do it all again!
She stepped up for the recent IRONMAN 70.3 Edinburgh challenge and completed it in 8 hours and 49 seconds.
McKay, 47, who is originally from Dundee, said: “I only ever thought I would do one if I could, but now, I am hooked!
“This was my second and it feels amazing! I honestly still can’t believe I finished and it feels like a dream as only 1,210 entrants completed the race from a field of almost 1,700. The race was a half Ironman, the same as the Bahrain race – 1.9km swim, 90km bike and a 21km run.
“I decided to compete in Edinburgh as it was the inaugural event in my home country and I really wanted to prove to myself that I could go faster and hopefully raise a little more for the orphaned elephants of Kenya: David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, along the way.
“My Bahrain effort was 6:57.00 and that weekend I was very ill with the flu. I missed all the briefings and pre-race events as I was in bed trying to recover! The aim in December was just to complete it if I could. I was just delighted to have finished my first ever 70.3.
“My result in this race of 8:00.49 was not a good time. I had hoped for so much faster; however, I did cross the finish line before the maximum time allowed and that is what counted.”
McKay was first diagnosed with arthritis, an excruciating disorder which affects the joints, in 2007. Her symptoms often include swelling and a decreased range of motion of the affected joints.
While she did attempt to push through, the sports lover had to put a halt on running in 2009 as to not further injure her feet. It wasn’t until she moved to Bahrain in 2011 that she started training with the Bahrain Triathlon Club and running again.
She lives in Hamala with her son Aidan, 16, who together with his sister Kiara, 17, encouraged her to carry on training. In 2014, she decided to run a 3km leg of the popular annual marathon relay.
Her farthest run before having children was 11km so she knew she had it in her. In 2014, she completed the swim leg of the Challenge Bahrain 70.3 as part of a relay team and did it again in 2015 but that was the extent of her competitive endeavours. She had never run or competed in an Ironman.
Exactly one year from celebrating her 46th birthday, McKay decided arthritis, or not, she was going to sign up for Ironman70.3 Middle East Championship Bahrain which fell on the same day and she decided to do it for a worthy cause … to help endangered elephants.
McKay had spent eight years living and teaching in Nairobi Kenya. Her teenage daughter was born there and is currently studying her A levels in the capital city. Her family often visited the elephant orphanage.
The DSWT is the most successful orphan-elephant rescue and rehabilitation programme in the world and one of the pioneering conservation organisations for wildlife and habitat protection in East Africa.
To date, DSWT has successfully hand-raised more than 150 infant elephants and has accomplished its long term conservation priority by effectively reintegrating orphans back into wild herds. According to the charity, one elephant is killed every 15 minutes and at this rate none will be roaming wild by 2025.
McKay has raised hundreds of dinars for the cause from her JustGiving page. She started training for the latest challenge with her friends, Sue Hall and Ber Carton, in February.
Hall completed the Manchester Marathon for an Alzheimer’s awareness charity in April and has now qualified for the London Marathon.
McKay added: “Sue combined her run training alongside bike training at the weekends with Ber and I. We really trained hard for the bike, including night-time rides, with Sue’s husband Bob. Bike training in Bahrain heat involves early 4.30am alarm calls on Friday or Saturday mornings. I am super grateful to them for forfeiting a weekend lie-in to help me out!
“The hills in Edinburgh were going to be challenging and I couldn’t have prepared as well as I did without their help. I just didn’t realise how challenging the hills would be. Of course, Bahrain Triathlon Club coach, Andy Price, is always available to answer questions and we have a great Facebook group who advised me on technical questions about hill climbs and descents.
“Swimming is my strongest discipline; however, in signing up for the race in Edinburgh I hadn’t thought about the temperature change, Bahrain to East Coast Scotland! I realised as late as May that the water would be around 10 – 12 degrees in Scotland while I would be training in bath-water sea temperatures in Bahrain.”
To be prepared, she had to order a special neoprene hat to avoid any shock headaches swimmers sometimes suffer from the sudden cold and a huge, warm cloak so that she could completely change clothes after the swim.
Due to booking flights on Qatar Airways before the Gulf regional turmoil erupted, McKay lost two days of her pre-training plans in the Scottish water because she had to rebook her flights with a different airline. She finally arrived the morning of June 27 and went for her first swim in Dundee since being a child, that evening.
“My bike had been delayed and my swim booties (to protect my feet from the cold) were in the box, so I had to try without them,” she explained. “It was 6pm at night, as my friend Claire and I stood with her children, waiting for the OK for me to go into the sea, the local dolphins – usually spotted from boats much further out to sea - swam up to the shore, it was incredible!
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“Claire came along to record my first swim as I had promised coach Vicki Price back in Bahrain a video if I even managed to get my toe into the water!
“In the freezing wind, together with a few of the Monifieth and Montrose triathlon club members I had contacted on the Edinburgh 70.3 Facebook group, I entered the water.
“I think I lasted four minutes! I came out, my face was so frozen with cold that it looked like I had been numbed by numerous treatments at the dentist – my face didn’t move!
“My feet were frozen too and started to cramp up. Nevertheless, I went back the following evening and lasted 20 minutes. I had booties on this time – warm feet. I figured that if I went in again, I may risk catching a cold, so that was the extent of my acclimatisation to Scottish temperatures. Only two swims, but I was happy that I was able to get and keep my face in and swim strongly in the powerful waves.
“I still felt positive about my swim but unfortunately the weather showed no sign of improving and the forecast was still grim for race day.”
The Edinburgh 70.3 began with a 1.2 mile swim at Preston Links before athletes headed eastwards from Cockenzie on a 56 mile one loop bike course, heading inland through rolling arable farmland via Haddington, Pencaitland and onto East Saltoun.
Then there was an out and back undulating loop incorporating the historic and beautiful estate village of Gifford, a key spectator hotspot, which entails the most technical part of the course on a route that hugs the hills of the Lammermuirs.
After transitioning, athletes were led around a beautiful multi-lap, 13.1 mile run within Holyrood Park before crossing the finish line.
On the big day, the swim started at 7am. Having placed her nutrition and fluids on the bike, McKay and the contenders were left to wait in howling wind conditions.
She explained: “It genuinely felt like a winter’s day - freezing, windy, damp with a dull, grey sky and sea. Due to safety concerns about the cold, the waves and the water temperature being below 12 degrees the swim was shortened, even for the professionals, to 950m.
“As we queued in the corral and the pros were ready to start, a piper started playing our national anthem and the swimmers began to sing – a moment I will never forget!
“There were many nervous competitors knowing that the swim was not their strongest discipline and hoping that they would make the new cut-off time. They sang along to the piper and it was slightly magical. I just wanted the swim to start. It was the cold that worried me more than the heavy, strong waves.”
The competitors set off in rows of three and were told to kick as hard as they could to the first buoy. By 15m to 20m in, there were swimmers hanging on to safety canoes being taken back to shore.
McKay was lucky as she had a successful swim. Her time could have been faster as she missed sighting the last buoy and was carried into the shore by the current. She had to swim back onto the right line but all was OK despite two very frozen hands.
Many did not make it. Approximately 40 to 50 athletes were brought in from the water or did not complete the swim in the correct time. This meant they could not continue with the challenge.
For the bike part she had to do a complete change of clothes in order to get warm again. “With frozen fingers this was challenging, I think removing the wetsuit and booties took a full 10 minutes,” she explained.
“After a disgracefully long 16 minute transition I made it onto the bike, my usual transition would normally be a few minutes. The bike leg was always going to be challenging but I thought I was well prepared, even for the Scottish hills.
“This challenging course had 980m of climbing over the 90km - it was always going to be tough for me as obviously Bahrain hill training is limited. The ride did not go to plan is an understatement.”
In the strong gusty winds McKay was blown about all over the place, meaning that although her uphill pushes were strong, she was having to brake on the down-hills and was losing lots of time.
Unfortunately, after only 20km she hit a downhill bump and her nutritional supplies from the front of the bike fell out onto the road. That was just the start of her cycling disaster.
After the first loop of big climbs, 50km in, McKay had to stop, dismount and walk through the feed station, just to find out which nutrition was closest to her own.
She said: “I was running out of energy fast. A banana from this feed station and my electrolyte drink was not enough - rookie error I hope I will not repeat. Sadly, my mishaps continued, after being unaware of a steep uphill on a blind bend.
“The riders in front had stopped and dismounted to avoid a collision and I had to stop too and an uphill walk began. It was all going a bit pear-shaped as I had been climbing the hills well.
“When I remounted my bike, the rear cassette started to make strange noises. As I was so tired and hungry I didn’t realise that I had broken my gear cable. “
There were still many hills to go and she was really struggling to get up even the smallest ones. McKay knew she was at least an hour, if not more, behind my expected time, this added to her frustration. Then after countless more hills and descents, the competitors turned into the homeward stretch and into a hill climb up the iconic Arthur’s seat at Holyrood Palace.
There was nothing she could do except get off and walk, again!
“I was devastated, something I have never, ever done while training even on the 90km training rides,” she added. “There seemed to be nothing left in my legs at all.
“I stubbornly remounted as it flattened out. I was not going to be beaten by this final Scottish hill, but deep down I knew I was ready to walk to the transition area if there was one more hill.
“My tracker said 86km and I could hear my training partner Sue telling me that I couldn’t stop before I hit the 90, just because we never do! But I had had enough and thought my 70.3 Ironman attempt was over. To my surprise, I rounded the corner and transition two was just ahead.
“Of course, my hands were so frozen at the start of the bike I had forgotten to set my Garmin counter straight away - I had completed the 90km!”
As McKay dismounted, her jacket caught the broken cable and she realised she had been riding with only two gears. Exhausted after 4hours 26min of being blown about on the bike, she racked it and walked to the transition tent, fully expecting to be stopped for missing the bike cut off time. She was very wobbly, a bit disorientated and asked how far the first run feed station was. She was a mile away.
McKay said: “‘I need to stop’ I told myself and a volunteer, I really didn’t feel well and I wasn’t stable at all, but knew my children Kiara and Aidan were outside the transition tent wondering where I was.
“They would know I was nowhere near my expected bike time. Also, my friends Angie, Tia, Claire and Zoe had travelled to support me – they’d been standing around waiting in the freezing cold all day and then, of course, there was the JustGiving page and all my sponsors.
“I had to at least try to complete part of the run. I had four glucose tablets, a quick bathroom break and sat with my head in my hands for what seemed like forever.
“Finally I got up and headed to the run, still slightly wobbly. As I passed the same volunteer, I had told I wanted to stop, he said to me ‘if you don’t at least try to walk then you will definitely not finish’. He said, by then, I was 15 minutes clear of the bike cut off, so there was a chance of making it. That was enough to make me leave after another shockingly bad transition of 15 minutes! I laughed to myself then, as coach Andy would be yelling at me by now!”
As she left the marquee, just around the corner of the tent entrance she saw her children patiently waiting on the way to the run start line, asking what was wrong.
“I replied that I didn’t think I could continue,” McKay said. “They both said I had to try as I’d already been racing for five hours.
“Luckily for me the feed station was only 1km away and not a mile. I walked to it, took on nutrition and sugar, opened a gel and started lap one … my second ever half marathon journey began.
“With three reps of a 7km route and a 98m climb each rep, it was challenging to say the least. I didn’t even switch my watch on to pace myself – I really didn’t expect to finish. I regretted that when I began chasing a cut off time but I had no idea how fast I had actually gone on the swim or the bike.”
The first lap was the worst mentally. She expected to be timed out at the first lap turn but she wasn’t. Feeling better, she ran the second lap comfortably but still thinking that she would be timed out after 14kms. They said in the briefing that the run cut off for the second lap turn was 2pm. However, due to the challenging weather conditions, timings had been extended, lap two cut off was now 3.10pm. She ran in to the turn for lap three thinking for the first time she might just make it.
McKay said: “As I set off up the hill for the last time, I couldn’t believe it. A gentleman named Ali Khalaf from Bahrain Road Runners (BRR) ran past me in a distinctive red and white tri-suit and the Bahrain flag.
“This was the extra boost I needed. Here was me representing Bahrain in Scotland, not that you could tell as my Bahrain tri suit was under 3 layers of clothing, and a BRR member runs on past. I was delighted to see him. If I could just keep him in my sights, I knew I could finish.
“I followed his red and white figure, listening to all the Scottish supporters cheering him on by name. ALI KHALAF in big letters was on the front and back of his suit. Reinvigorated, I followed his pace and stayed just behind him.”
Her son, St Christopher’s School pupil, Aidan, jogged down from the finish line and ran beside her with 1km to go.
McKay felt great when she really realised that she was going to finish. Aidan told her it was OK and that everyone was still on the carpet and completing the race. McKay could hear the commentators welcoming Ali over the line and he was about 300m in front of her by now.
McKay said: “The support was amazing. I really believe that even the Scottish crowd realised this was a tough race; they and other competitors stayed along the route to watch everyone finish.
“Having my friends come to watch was incredible. On the morning of the race, I didn’t think I would ever say I was an Edinburgh 70.3 finisher but now I can wear my T-shirt with pride.
“A world championship qualifier who travelled from the US to take part in this race commented afterwards that out of the 25-plus Ironman 70.3 races she had done, Edinburgh 70.3 was the toughest of them all. I am feeling very happy to have finished.”
McKay’s arthritis flared up after the competition but she is not letting a few days of pain deter her from future triathlons as even her doctor believes it’s the best thing she has ever done to combat the disorder.
McKay explained: “Starting triathlon training a year and a half ago is the best thing I could have done to fight this disease. Dr Maik at the German Orthopaedic has been fantastic in advising me about my feet and helping my knee to recover after a cartilage issue.
“During this race, yes, I felt pain in my feet. The adrenaline stopped it for a while during the run, but as soon as I was finished my feet flared up for a few days. They are still a bit sore, but that is mainly due to being in the UK and in cold damp weather. It makes such a difference when you are warm and living in Bahrain.
“I am already thinking of the next one but this time I will be bringing Sue and Ber along and a few others! I am totally hooked. I laugh at myself a little, as I said if I made one 70.3 that was enough, but I didn’t realise how strong training would make my body; my joints and ligaments are so much stronger.
“I always have to be aware of pain and stop when it gets too sore, especially when trying to run. I’ve been researching other athletes who do endurance races with arthritis, as my ultimate goal is to complete a full 140.6 ironman distance - 2.4 miles, biking 112 miles and running 26.2 miles.
“Ber has already agreed to train and compete with me and Sue has agreed to run the marathon part if my feet can’t cope! Time will tell if this is just too much for me, but I am still amazed that I have trained hard, with very few injuries and have completed my second 70.3.”
McKay would like to thank her family and friends for their support and everyone at BTC who helped and encouraged her along the way and her JustGiving page will close on September 30 if anyone would like to show further support for the cause.
McKay said: “I would really like to make it to £1,500 as that rescues one orphan. I am currently on £1,194.54 so need another £306, or approximately BD150. If anyone could help then that would be amazing!”
