It is with great sadness that the KonaBaseball.com League announces the death of Commissioner Katherine Donovan who passed away on April 18, 2011, from complications surrounding her long-term battle with Crohn's disease.
A six-time consecutive finisher of the Ironman World Championship Triathlon, she used diet and excercise to combat her medical condition. Born and raised in San Francisco, California, Katherine earned half a dozen medals for finishing the grueling 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile marathon combo known as the "Ironman".
Local KonaBaseball.com players knew her for administration of the league and for her services as head scorekeeper. The triathlon community knew her as the Big Island athlete who, at age 56, held the honor of the most consecutive current finishes of the Hawaii Ironman World Triathlon Championship. In her career, she completed the entire 50-54 division with an additional finish in the 55-59 age group..
For Katherine Donovan, the 70.3 Honu half-ironman-distance event (the qualifying race) held in early June, 2009, was particularly challenging. Having just completed the 50-54 age group, it would seem logical to expect a reprieve when stepping up into the 55-59 cluster, wouldn't it? Not so, however among Big Island athletes in one of the richest fields in the sport - for all three top contenders celebrated birthdays within a month of one another.
Compounding matters, that trio joined other strong participants in the new age bracket ... what a field of veteran Ironman World Championship triathletes! Katherine was pleased to have qualified for one of only two slots awarded.
When it comes to running, she liked both New Balance and Saucony shoes, and her socks were Gizmo brand. Her favorite shirt was a Nike.
Of greatest significance, in Katherine's mind, was that her bicycle of choice was Specialized brand. In fact, Specialized was her choice for a number of bicycle-related products, including gloves and cycling shoes.
Here are links to Katherine Donovan's six Ironman finishes. To view a video of her crossing the finish line, choose the year, then click on the blue-and-gold bar entitled "watch me finish" for years 2004 through 2008 once you are in the official Ironman athlete tracker system. Click on the red/orange "watch me finish" bar within the athlete tracker system, for viewing the 2009 race.
Depending on the year, the video starts about a minute or so prior to each athlete's finish, so please be patient if you see a couple other Ironman Triathletes come across the line ahead of her.
2009 - sixth finish - now in the 55-59 year old age bracket
2008 - 5th consecutive finish - a complete "running of the age bracket"
2007 - four in a row (overtaking other Big Island women in final portion of run - all finishing within three minutes of one another!)
2006 - a "three-peat"
2005 - incredible finish: 1 hour and 39 minutes ahead of previous year
2004 - as a rookie
Beginning her triathlon career at the age of fifty, Katherine Donovan qualified for the 2004 world championship in her very first attempt, and she never looked back. The 2008 qualifying event, the Honu Half Ironman Triathlon, was particularly rewarding for her, as she won the last Ironman slot, despite being the oldest woman in a highly-competitive age group of fine athletes.
Katherine Donovan proved that anyone can make the loftiest dreams come true and that age is just a number. For reasons of general health and well being, she began running at the age of forty, participating in her first marathon a few months later.
When her husband pointed out that she had finished that first Maui Marathon in the top ten percent of women her age (and ahead of most men of all ages in the race), she jokingly said. "Maybe when I turn 50, I'll do a triathlon". Little did she know how true that prediction would be. For at age 50, she did the granddaddy of them all - the Ironman World Championship Triathlon.
Throughout her rise to success, Katherine Donovan maintained detailed records and kept copius notes as to her training in each of the three discipines of triathlon. A compilation of those records is now in progress, and her husband plans to follow through with her intentions to launch a book and accompanying video sometime in 2012. Unlike other "how to" books and tapes, the focus of her approach was having fun, keeping within oneself, and examining a myriad of techniques that worked for her.
She demonstrated how she was able to "just keep pedaling" through the difficult moments, calling upon mental gymnastics. This was the assurance that, before day's end, her toe would cross the finish line.
Thorough preparation was also key to her success, doing everything possible, so as to not leave anything to chance ... the chance that could cause her not to finish. Katherine Donovan never withdrew from any athletic event.
The only mishap occurred at Ironman China. An undetected slow leak in the valve of a tube resulted in a soft rear tire for an undetermined number of miles. When Katherine realized the problem, she quickly changed the tube in the tire, only to discover that the valve on the CO2 cartridge was faulty.
Not to worry, the always-prepared triathlete had brought along a backup hand pump, just in case. However, using only a hand-powered device, the tire pressure could not be brought back up to its peak performance level. Getting short on time and knowing she had 20+ miles to go, she proceeded to sprint to the finish line. Unfortunately, the race officials logged her in at a time that was one minute and twelve seconds past the bicycle cutoff. Ready, willing, and able to proceed with her strongest event (the marathon run), she was not allowed to continue.
Never a DNF (Did Not Finish), Katherine Donovan had to settle for one NAF (Not Allowed to Finish). After all that preparation, who would have guessed that a pair of $5 items could cost an athlete so much? But in an Ironman, everything must be perfect. Afterall, they call it "Ironman" for a very good reason.
Prior to her passing, Katherine Donovan had her eye on several other international events including revisiting and finishing Ironman China. She was scheduled to participate in Ironman Arizona (in November, 2011) and also intended to travel to other triathlons, mostly 70.3 events where she planned on spreading the news of her good health and good fortune and to promote the products that she used. For example, it was a Specialized Dolce that Katherine Donovan rode in all six Ironman World Championships. Her mother bought it for her as a 50th birthday gift at Kona's local bicycle shop Bike Works.
Throughout those six years of achievement, Katherine Donovan and her Specialized Dolce became one, a human/mechanical machine destined for success. After all, that most-modest-model-in-the-line bicycle didn't realize that the determined lady on its seat was Ironman bound. And the bicycle didn't know that its reasonable pricetag couldn't stop it from its own claim to fame.
