Wendi Carrington, from Newark, breaks 12-hour barrier at Ironman Copenhagen race in Denmark

Triathlete Wendi Carrington smashed her personal best at an ironman race in Denmark.

Carrington, from Newark, completed Ironman Copenhagen in 11hr59min58sec, beating her PB by half an hour and finishing fifth in the women’s 55-59 age category.

She’d been training all year for the event which comprises a 2.2-mile swim, a 112-mile bike leg and a full marathon.

“This was the fourth ironman I’ve done in as many years,” said Carrington, 59, a member of Grantham-based Belvoir Tri.

“I did the first one as a bit of a challenge, stepping up from a half-ironman distance.

“I started doing triathlon seven or eight years ago, probably less than that, and I’ve gone up in distance quite quickly but I came from a background in running.

“I used to belong to Newark Rowing Club, too, so I’ve tried every sport in the book but triathlon seems to be the one I’m excelling in at the moment.”

Carrington broke the 12-hour barrier despite losing 10 minutes retrieving her water bottle which had fallen off in the early stages of the bike leg.

That followed a gruelling swim which saw her pulled and punched as competitors fought for position.

Encouragement from locals along the route and her husband kept her going as she closed in on the finish line.

“You have a lot of support in Copenhagen because people can see you at every turn and every juncture, even on the swim,” said Carrington. “The support is phenomenal.

“I had no idea how well I was doing until I was on the run and my husband was pointing at his watch, shouting ‘you’re doing really well’ because you just blank it out.

“It’s such a long way, you just have to keep going so, mentally, if you start looking at your watch, you’re done for.

“So you keep going and it wasn’t until I came down the red carpet and saw the time on the gantry that I thought, ‘I’m under 12 hours, I’m not losing that’ and I sprinted for the line.”

Carrington is already gearing up for her next event.

She added: “It takes quite a while to recover and the older you are, the longer it takes.

“But I haven’t got long to recover because I’m doing an ultra event in three weeks’ time.

“I’m back running, swimming and cycling but I have to ease my way back in slowly.”