A Windsor woman has celebrated her 30th birthday in a big way.
29-year-old Nikki LeBlanc has qualified for the half Ironman World's in South Africa next year.
She qualified after finishing in the top 10 in her age category this past weekend in Ohio finishing the event in 5:46:40.
She ran 21km, swam just under 2 km and biked 90 km in that time period.
"I was shocked, I really had no idea how it worked," she says. "We walked to the finish line to watch some friends come in and we walked by the tent and they were announcing the winners from each age category."
"They started calling names and they said my name, so I threw my hand up and I said that's me and I didn't even know where the worlds were at the time so it was pretty crazy."
It was LeBlanc's first crack at an Ironman.
Courtesy of Kristy LeBlanc
She has participated in half marathons and full marathons but wanted to do something big for her 30th birthday coming up in September.
The Ironman Worlds in South Africa takes place in September 2018.