HAYDEN LAKE, Idaho — A Hayden Lake woman has captured an Ironman world championship title.
Dexter Yeats won the title in the women’s 70-74 age group at the 2018 Ironman 70.3 World Championship Triathlon in Nelson Mandela Bay, South Africa, on Saturday.
About 1,600 women competed in the triathlon this year.
"To realize that you are there competing with people from 102 countries, it was just phenomenal," said Yeats.
The race Yeats competed in included a 1.2-mile swim, 56-mile bike course, and a two-lap, 13.1-mile run.
Yeats completed the race in 07:25:55 (swim: 50:34; bike: 03:33:34; run: 02:48:50), beating the top athletes in her age group.
Yeats said her experience in South Africa was different from back home.
She said other competitors saw monkeys on the course and during her swim, divers were on patrol looking for sharks.
"That kind of speeded up my swim a little bit, haha, with those thoughts in your mind," said Yeats.
In 2017, Yeats was the oldest race participant at the Coeur d’Alene Ironman at 73 years old. She trained constantly to prepare for the race.
In less than a month, she will head to Kona, Hawaii for the full Ironman world championships.
Yeats said she ran her first triathlon in 1983.
“At that time, I was the third woman overall even though I was dead last. There were no women participating in the sport to speak of,” she said. “And it just sort of intrigued me and I kept doing more.”
Yeats completed her first Ironman in 1993.
