Leslie Pribyl's body may have been broken but another component pivotal to triumph for a top-calibre athlete certainly was not.
Her spirit.
The Port Coquitlam resident courageously overcame a severe concussion and fractured pelvis suffered in a nasty bike crash last year to burn up the Ironman Cozumel last Sunday in Mexico.
Pribyl raced to fifth spot in the women's 45-49 age group in the demanding three-discipline competition and improved her previous best time at an Ironman distance by an astonishing 52 minutes, something she could never imagine while rendered run-less until a few months ago due to recurring symptoms as a result of her head injury.
"I was off work for 12 weeks, mostly from the concussion side effects," said Pribyl, a supervisor at BC Biomedical and member of the Tri-City-based Pacific Rim Multisport triathlon club. "I was able to start swimming fairly early with no kicking [but] I was not allowed to ride my bike outdoors for 12 weeks until my concussion symptoms subsided and [there was] no running for eight months.
"The most difficult part was psychological... feeling like you are never going to recover or get back to my previous fitness level."
Pribyl's accident was purely that -- having skidded out on gravel on the side of a Pitt Meadows farm road during a routine PRM group ride.
"She went down hard," recalled Darcel Moro, who was part of cycling pack that day. "Other riders removed their coats to layer on Leslie and huddled around her to keep her warm. She was in too much pain to move her so we did not try, opting instead to wait for paramedics."
As evident Sunday, Pribyl is amazingly stronger than ever. Battling Mother Nature's Central America moodiness of heat, humidity, wind and heavy rain, Pribyl completed the 3.8 km swim, 180 km bike and 42.2 km run in 11 hours, 10 minutes and 48 seconds. Despite not being permitted to run for a substantial period, she posted a standout time of 4:14:42 in the event's final leg, the marathon, without so much as taking a walk break.
"Leslie had a strong effort on all accounts, [with] personal bests in all three disciplines," raved her coach and PRM president Ann Barnes. "Having been sidelined with injury in May 2010 created additional mental toughness for her to come back stronger than ever for 2011. Many athletes would have been derailed but Leslie chose to stay the course of a carefully managed and strategic comeback.
"She is a workhorse and not afraid of pain, as evidenced by [Sunday's] gutsy performance."
In turn, Pribyl credited Barnes and many other of her PRM club-mates for keeping her desire and determination to compete at her optimum.
"Ann was the person responsible for keeping my sanity and making me laugh when I was down... keeping me included in club activities and workouts when I could and keeping me company when I could only pool run," said Pribyl, who completed three Ironmans prior to her mishap and has committed to two half-Ironmans over the next six months before tackling the Cozumel course again next year. "I also had some very good friends who would finish their swim workout and hop in the lane with me to pool run just to keep my spirits up... and who told me my running would come back stronger than ever, and they were right.
"It also gave me a stronger desire to push harder and reach my goals."
