A WALK IN THE WOODS - University at Buffalo

sportformTHE LATEST ATHLETIC NEWS FROM THE BULLSTRACK AND FIELD ALUMNIHansenConquersIronmanChances are, whatever you were doing on July 28, 2013, was not nearly as grueling a physical experience asthe one Jennie Donofrio Hansen, DPT ’09 & BS ’06, conquered. Hansen spent more than a third of that daypushing her physical limits en route to becoming the first female winner of the Ironman Lake Placid.What exactly is an Ironman competition? It’s an event that puts the casual 5K to shame, simply put. Ironmantriathlons consist of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bicycle ride and finish with a full 26.2-mile marathon. Alltold, participants cover 140 miles. Hansen finished all that in a mere 9 hours, 35 minutes and 6 seconds. Thevictory helped her qualify for the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, scheduled for Oct. 12. It also wassweet coming off of two second-place finishes in Ironman competition.At Ironman Lake Placid, Hansen was 11 minutes behind the frontrunner after the swim portion, butgained valuable ground by posting the fastest time on the bike. She passed the women’s leader at the 12-milemark of the marathon, finishing that in 3:05.04.Hansen hails from Irondequoit, N.Y., near Rochester, where she works as a physical therapist. Hansenwas a member of the cross country team at UB, which she attended as an Honors student and recipient of theSchool of Public Health and Health Professions’ Alfred T. Caffiero Scholarship.NILS NILSEN/IRONMAN14 UBTODAY Fall 2013 www.buffalo.edu/ubt