Mattapoisett’s very own Julie Gallagher is in Marbella, Spain to compete in this year’s annual Ironman Pro Series 70.3 World Championship. Gallagher qualified for this strenuous, multi-faceted race last year and has been training since.
She and her two daughters, Addie and Ansley, left our neck of the woods and headed to Spain on Monday night. The race itself is on Saturday, November 8, so here’s hoping there’s time for sightseeing as well as some last-minute preparations. For Marbella, the average temperature is around 64 degrees at the mouth of the Mediterranean. The family deservedly gets a warm reprieve from our cold, wet week.
The race starts at 7:50 am CET, so 2:50 am our time! It starts with a 1.2-mile/1.9-kilometer swim around the town’s beach, Puerto Banús. Next, Gallagher will embark on the 56-mile/90.1-kilometer bike section heading north out of town towards the Andalusian highlands, or the Cordilleras Béticas. Elevation here is from sea level to about 1,750 feet. Circling back down to Marbella, for the last leg, the racers make two laps around town in a 13.1-mile/21.1-kilometer circuit, finally passing the finish line back at the beach after traveling 70.3 miles/113.1 kilometers through their own bodies’ strength and determination.
“I’m definitely excited,” Julie told The Wanderer. We caught her a few hours before she and her daughters departed! In being asked if she was nervous, she brushed it off and replied “It’s going to be fun! I can’t wait.”
Gallagher’s swim coach, Bodil Perkins, remarked that “her swimming and her dedication just amazes me!” Perkins coached Gallagher three times a week for the swimming section in the lead up to the race in Spain. She concluded, “She is an incredible inspiration and an amazing athlete.”
On top of this race, Gallagher also recently qualified for the 2026 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Nice, France. Another well-deserved Mediterranean getaway!
Best of luck to Julie from The Wanderer and your friends in the Tri-Town. We’re rooting for you! ¡Pásalo bien!