Anna Deegan

Anna Deegan can remember the day she quit smoking.

It was over the May Bank Holiday weekend of 2018 after a sunny al fresco lunch melted into a long, boozy night.

Even though she had become increasingly embarrassed to be a smoker, she went through two full boxes of cigarettes. Next morning, she said: “Never again!”

Anna was 35 years-old, and at a fork in the road.

She knew her lifestyle had to change, yet she could never have imagined that within three years she would become a huge advocate for the sport of triathlon and already have one ironman long-distance event under her belt.

Anna (38) grew up on a farm, with horses, in Wicklow and went working with them in racing stables and stud farms as soon as she left school at 16.

She rode out racehorses most mornings for nearly 20 years and reached assistant-trainer status.

But having already had back surgery after one bad fall, she knew she couldn’t sustain that gruellingly physical lifestyle forever.

She had also experienced serious struggles with her mental health: “I had six pretty lengthy stays in psychiatric hospitals, battling depression, from the time I was 16 to 28.

“I was very physically active, but was not looking after myself. I had a very demanding job and was smoking and drinking too much. Even though I was fit, I was actually very unhealthy.”

When a second back surgery was suggested, she opted to avoid it by getting stronger and healthier, starting one-on-one strength and conditioning sessions with James Kelly at West Wicklow Fitness in her native Dunlavin.

“I always had the thought that I wanted to run the Dublin Marathon one day, and also to try a triathlon, but I could barely swim.”

Swimming lessons at K-Leisure in Athy changed that. “I was a pure beginner at the start, hands on the edge of the pool, blowing bubbles.”

But within two months she’d completed her first duathlon (run-bike-run) and, another three months later, found herself on the start-line of ‘TriAthy’, about to attempt triathlon’s ‘sprint’ distance (750m swim, 20K bike ride and 5K run).

“My swim was terrible, but I can still remember running into the first transition thinking ‘I cannot believe I have just done that.’

“It was the best feeling I have ever had in my life. The buzz, the adrenalin, I just wanted to do it again and again.”

By 2019 she was racing the Olympic distance (1,500m swim, 40K bike ride and 10K run) and taken on a coach, Chris Simpson of the Leinster Sports Clinic.

“He is so much more than a coach, he is more like my therapist,” she laughs.

“I was spending €70-€80 a week on cigarettes, and many thousands over the years on doctors and therapy, so his is a very small price to pay. Working with a coach is great for consistency and makes you accountable.”

She completed her first half-Ironman triathlon in Portugal in 2019 (1.9K swim, 90k bike ride and 21.1K run) and then The Celtic Warrior Ironman event in Mullingar, Co Westmeath, in 2020.

Finding the time to train in three different sports (she also does yoga to aid recovery) sounds intimidating, but Anna says it is not hard.

“You just start by finding small nuggets of time for training. Begin with 15 minutes, and work upwards. One hour out of 24 is a very small timeframe. Why not give yourself one hour a day?

“When you do a cycle, run for five minutes immediately afterwards and you are already starting what is known as a ‘brick’ session.

“I think women, particularly, find starting a team sport later in life hard. They can be self-conscious about not being good enough or having the skills, but triathlon really is for everybody.

“Its beauty is that it is an individual sport for which you can train alone, but compete alongside others, at any level you want, and in your own age-group. I race for myself but also represent my club, and am very proud of that.

“Finding triathlon was the best thing I have ever done in my life and joining Athy Triathlon Club was the second,” she enthuses.

“When I joined I was going through a huge life-change. I had left my job and thrown caution to the wind so I decided to put myself forward as secretary, just to challenge myself further.”

Now she’s not only Athy Triathlon Club chairperson, but is also on the board of Triathlon Ireland.

Her bravery has also resulted in a new career as Women in Sport Development Officer for Kildare Sports Partnership.

“I definitely would not be in my job if I had not put myself forward and gone out and met people through sport. I love that saying about ‘finding your tribe.’ I never had a tribe in school or in my previous job, but I finally found my tribe in triathlon.

“Right now, I am better than I have ever been, physically and mentally, and I put it all down to sport and exercise, good food and triathlon.”