PODIUM
Tara Norton: Normal Limits Do Not Apply
As multisport athletes, we all like to think that we do crazy stuff. Things normal people just don’t do. Tara Norton takes all that to a level the rest of us can’t comprehend. You know that Monty Python skit, the one where the guys keep saying “luxury” and trying to top each other. Don’t ever try to have one of those conversations with Norton. The 48-year-old has stacked more accomplishments and overcome more adversity than pretty much the rest of us combined.
She did her first Ultraman World Championship in Hawaii in 2016. Here’s my “Coles Notes” version of that race: she finished a 10 km swim and 145 km bike on the first day, 276 km of cycling on the second day, and then an 84 km run on the third, with a stress fracture in her femur. She finished second. How did she find out about the stress fracture? Hiking a couple of days later she fell and heard her femur snap in two.
Here’s what is crazy. A broken femur is nothing when it comes to Tara Norton. She can even top the “you can’t top this” nature of that story. On May 18, 2005, she was flying down a hill on her bike when her fork collapsed. She hit the ground face first at 40 km/ h. When her husband, Bruce, got to the hospital, her face was so destroyed he barely recognized her. She had broken her neck and nine facial bones. Her teeth were, as one reporter described it, a mess.
Just over two months later Tara was in Lake Placid, competing in the Ironman. She qualified for Kona. She was still spitting out tooth splinters during the run on the Big Island.
One of Tara’s favourite races is Ironman Lanzarote. The motto there is “Normal Limits Do Not Apply.” It is an apt description both of that race and of Tara Norton. During her career she did 25 full-distance races. She competed in Kona six times.
In the years since she snapped that femur in half, Tara won the Ultraman World Championship in 2018 and defended that title in 2019 (News, p.54). In 2018 she also became the only woman to finish the Doxa Threelay as an individual. What on earth is the Doxa Threelay, you’re asking? It’s a 285-mile race that is usually done by teams of 12 people.
See what I mean about conceding in that “luxury” conversation? Quit while you’re ahead. During her pro career she put together over 25 top-10 finishes at long course races around the world. For the longest time she held the bike course record at Ironman Lanzarote. She’s completed 50 km and 50-mile trail races. She does all of this while being a busy mom and wife, and is also an outstanding coach.
Good luck trying to keep up with that. Normal limits certainly do not apply to Tara Norton.