HOW SHE LOST 115KG
IRON WILL TO SUCCEED:
TWO years ago, Elena Goodall was facing a death sentence unless she took drastic action to face up to her obesity.
Tipping the scales at 184kg, the 29-year-old’s doctor diagnosed her with type 2 diabetes and severe sleep apnoea.
Elena’s parents feared for the worst.
The Mount Isa resident decided to undergo gastric sleeve surgery and followed this up by ditching junk food and exercising regularly.
She started setting herself goals: becoming fit enough to compete in Julia Creek’s Dirt n’ Dust Festival triathlon in 2016, then the Noosa Triathlon last year and eventually the Cairns Ironman 70.3.
When Elena crossed the finish line on the Cairns Esplanade on Sunday, with a time of 6 hours, 45 minutes, she could hardly recognise herself.
“My parents would be so proud,” she said.
“They thought they were going to lose me.”
Elena, who grew up in Cairns, basically lived off takeaway food after moving out of home and did not realise how unhealthy she had become.
“I couldn’t even tie my own shoes up. Things, that most people take for granted, I couldn’t do,” she said.
“I couldn’t sit down on the ground and get back up.
“Now, I just want to prove to people that if you reach that point, there is something you can do and you can save your own life.
“It’s not something you should have to deal with.”
Elena weighs about 69kg, but she is far more focused on improving herself and completing her next challenge, than the reading on the scales.
“I’m hoping to do my first full Ironman soon, at the beginning of next year, but I may have to complete a few more 70.3s before I go for a full. But we’ll see,” she said.
“I’m pretty determined, and I feel like anything that I can set my mind to, I can do.”