MADALENE Cleary’s athletic goals have no end in sight as she sets her mind firmly on her next challenge.

In October, she’ll be in the Hawaiian town of Kailua-Kona for her biggest challenge yet when she swims, rides and runs in the Ironman World Championship.

While there are many ironman triathlons held across the world, Kailua-Kona’s World Championship is the original and the big one – featuring a swimming course of nearly four kilometres, a 180-kilometre bike ride and finishing with a 42-kilometre run.

It’s a gruelling course that most athletes will need to start from dawn to complete it before the sun sets – its fastest competitor ever finished it in just under eight hours.

Madalene qualified by competing in the New Zealand Ironman in Taupo in March 2020, the week before Covid-19 was declared a pandemic and worldwide restrictions came into force.

Her time – at 11 hours and 21 minutes – saw her finish in the top end of her age group and she was subsequently offered a place in the World Championship.

It was her first full ironman after taking part in several half-ironman events, including in Geelong (twice), Melbourne, Western Australia and even in China on Chongming Island, near Shanghai.

Madalene can attest to the vast difference between the shorter triathlons and the New Zealand Ironman.

“Mentally (the half-ironman is) a lot easier,” she said.

“Training for a longer distance is a lot more mentally.”

She has already been hard at work preparing for October’s championship with a packed training schedule.

“I do three swims a week in Hamilton or Mount Gambier and then normally through the week I have bike sessions – short runs off the bike and a couple decent runs in the week,” she said.

Madalene also said it was the challenge of competing in the Ironman which motivated her.

“I love the training so it’s good to have a goal to go with it,” she said.

She will compete in Ironman World Championship on Thursday, 6 October, 2022.