A tired Erica Hawley has reflected on her first Ironman race after finishing eighth in La Quinta, California.

Hawley spent more than four hours in the water and on the roads in California on Sunday as she competed in her first Ironman event against some of the world’s best over the extended triathlon distance.

The Bermudian, who represented the island at the Olympic Games in Paris last year, competed in the professional female division and completed the 1.9-kilometre swim in 26min 2sec, the 90km bike leg in 2:21:26 and the 21.1km run in 1:24:59 for an overall time of 4:17:32.

That was a little over 11 minutes behind Kirsten Kasper of the United States, who won in 4:06:08. Canadian Amelie Kretz finished second in 4:07:37.

Just 24 hours after the race, Hawley is still recovering from the pain after competing over the longer format.

“Today I’m extremely tired and fatigued but it’s a different type of pain to the fast full-on short races that I do,” she said.

“Overall it was a success for me and a great debut. Racing an Ironman is lots of fun with all the age-groupers and it was cool to take part in this side of triathlon. I will definitely do another one in my lifetime but I’m just not sure when.”

Hawley was nervous before the race and did not set any targets as she tested herself over a distance far further than her usual races.

“I had no expectations on where I would finish,” she said. “The race is over double the distance of the Olympics, so I didn’t want to put any pressure on myself to be on the podium ― the goal was to learn a lot and gain experience, which I did.

“I knew that I would most likely make mistakes since it was my first time and I definitely did make a few. The swim was really cold but I actually swam well and it is way less aggressive compared to short course.

“My bike was a little underwhelming and I lost some time there. It was hard to know what power I needed and I really only had one month on the TT bike.

“Up to a couple days before the race I was still working on my bike fit and what felt comfortable with the hydration system and saddle, so I think there’s huge room for improvement in that area.

“It was also interesting figuring out the non-drafting and the 12-metre rule and how to navigate overtaking. During the run I was feeling pretty good until mile 11. I’ve never ran a half marathon fast before so I was in new territory. I also struggled to get fuel in on the run and paid for it at the end.”

The Ironman was Hawley’s last competitive outing in 2025 and she will be formulating her 2026 calendar in the coming days.

“The next few weeks will be about coming up with a plan for 2026 and if I can fit in a couple of long distance races in that would be great,” she said.