Stephanie Yeung – 1374

Steph `I need something else to do’ Yeung is our Hillbillie Kona rookie this year. And it wasn’t planned.

After competing in WA last November, then Forster (where she qualified in 10:23:43 – second in the 30-34 age group), Steph is preparing for her third ironman in 11 months. And then she says she is retiring. [We all say that – Ironman China is in April!]

“My first objective for any ironman is to finish,’’ Steph says. “Second is to enjoy the experience and soak up the atmosphere.”

Steph is the prototype of the Hillbillie athlete. The 31-year-old triathlete is quiet and modest . She has been competing for six years and has collected four ironman medals so far. Besides securing a Kona spot, her proudest achievement in the sport was learning how to swim, she says.

``I wasn’t trying to qualify, it just happened,’’ is something she could have said, adding ``I think there must be a mistake.’’ And of course she probably would have made this comment sitting in the medical tent – she has a way of collapsing right at the finish line, right on the line, after having given it everything to get there.

Training with her soon-to-be husband, that Irish bicycle magnate Declan, Steph has focused on her cycling endurance in the last year. Having a Teschner hasn’t hurt her motivation either.

As many of you know, it was during a brick session leading to Forster that Declan jumped out of the bushes at Centennial Park – in a suit no less – and requested her hand in marriage. He ruined the rest of Steph’s training on that day. [She said yes by the way, and the two will be linking hands in November.]

After surviving that park event, Steph decided that she needed more of a challenge so she took a new job, with more responsibility, started taking courses to further her accounting expertise and began looking for a house. And fit in the occasional bit of training too.

``This will be my last ironman,’’ Steph says of Kona. “I’m moving to a different phase of my life where there are new things waiting for me to embark on.’’

Perhaps adventure racing.

Stephanie Yeung – Race number 1374