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Sharon Dagg has credited her Hawke’s Bay’s friend Kelley Waite with helping her become the first woman amputee to conquer one of the country’s most gruelling triathlon races.
The pair completed the IronmanNZ race together in Taupō on March 1 in a time of 15 hours and31 minutes.
Post-surgery complications after a 2016 accident on a friend’s farm left Dagg, from Feilding, with limited use of her left arm.
The triathlete’s decision to have it amputated above the elbow in 2019 left her more determined to push her limits and show others that physical limitation is a mindset and not always a reality.
Known as “Limb-it-less Shaz”, she went on to become the first female amputee to complete the two-day Coast to Coast race.
The pair pushed their physical and mental limits across a 3.8km swim, 180km bike and 42.2km run, a press release from Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter Trust yesterday said.
Kelley Waite (left) celebrates at the IronmanNZ finish line with good mate Sharon Dagg.
Dagg, who raced for the Triathalon Hawke’s Bay club, said she could not think of a better mate who also had “the mental strength and sheer pig-headed determination to see her own challenges through along with mine”.
“To help guide me safely around the course I wanted the support of someone I knew I could rely on, that’s where Kelley came into the picture.”
Waite said she and Dagg completed the IronMāori in Napier five weeks after they agreed to take on the IronmanNZ challenge.
“‘Stumpy’ and I did IronMāori in Napier – by comparison, IronmanNZ was more demanding due to the sheer pressure to perform, keep up with Shaz and keep her afloat and clear of all the crowds, especially in the swim leg,” Waite said.
She was “immensely proud” to have helped her friend complete her goal.
“Shaz and I have trained together for other events in the past and so when she asked me this time, I could not say no.
“Having the distraction of someone going through the day with me, knowing they were hurting as much if not more but never stopped moving the whole way, made the mental challenge much more bearable.”
Waite said the experience gave her a new perspective on what she could achieve when she put her mind to something.
