Accomplished triathlete and fitness guru Celine Macken deserves all the accolades she receives.
Macken is one of the women selected by Cayman Islands government representatives to be highlighted during Honouring Women Month, observed in March.
“Celine has overcome many injuries and we are hoping that her story inspires our youngsters and adults to take up sports. We hope they will understand the importance of sport in keeping them healthy, both physically and mentally,” said Merta Day, women’s coordinator of the Cayman Islands Department of Sport.
“Being honoured in this way is wonderful and I am very grateful,” Macken said. “It is good to see women encourage each other to be involved in sport by example.
“Exercise is critical to staying healthy, physically and mentally. I strongly believe we need to eat well and exercise to keep going and cope with the stresses of life,” she added. “Good health is everything.”
Admitting to being addicted to sports, Macken added: “My mum knew only too well that I needed my regular fix of exercise for my own sanity, when visiting with me in Cayman she used to say I was a more relaxed person once I had a workout after work.
“I love how exercise makes me feel. It is a huge stress reliever and morning workouts set me out for a good day at work.”
Macken was bitten by the sports bug at 7, when her mother, Angela, insisted that she, her sister and her five brothers learn to swim.
At primary school, she took up tennis. But the cold Irish winters do not allow for many outdoor sports, so she took up hockey while attending secondary school at Holy Faith Convent and at the University College of Dublin.
In college, she took up running to build endurance for the intense hockey training.
“Cycling was my mode of transport during my university years and I enjoyed it after college,” she said. “The combination of cycling and running was an easy escapism when studying in college and also for my professional qualification.”
Being a swimmer, runner and cyclist helped make it a logical leap when she decided to compete in triathlons after arriving in the Cayman Islands in 1987. At first, she competed only in individual events, such as running or cycling.
“Eventually, I was drawn into triathlon,” she added. “Being young and adventurous, I competed in my first triathlon within the same year of arriving here in Grand Cayman.”
She initially competed at the Olympic distance triathlon – 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10k run – before later competing at the Half Ironman distance – 2k swim, 80k bike and 20k run.
“It was the accomplishment of finishing gruelling events like this that push you to the brink, both mentally and physically that keeps me coming back,” Macken said.
Being an avid athlete, Macken, an accountant, trains on the road, which means she knows a lot about injuries and recovery.
“Most of my injuries have been due to bike accidents and I have to admit that I am still trying to iron out the imbalances that have arisen over the years,” she said.
In her first major crash, she badly injured her back when she flew over the handle bars across a dyke. In another accident, she was knocked off her bike just a few weeks before Ironman Canada.
She ended up receiving 45 stitches in the hip area and 15 stitches in her elbow. But her most debilitating injury came when she broke her right arm and had to keep it in a fixed position for six weeks.
“That meant no driving, swimming, weights, or running,” Macken said. “My sanity was saved by a friend who lent me a spinning bike. I also did a lot of brisk walking. Being unable to drive, I had to walk a bit more than usual. I still needed that escapism that working out provides.”
Macken said that one of the advantages of living in Cayman when injured is you can always run in the water. “This is a great form of exercise and has helped me rehabilitate over the years,” she said. “If I feel I am a bit too tired for a workout and afraid of injury, or have an injury I will revert to the water.”
If all the injuries were not bad enough, Macken discovered at age 40 that she was gluten intolerant.
“I wondered what I would live on when I eliminated everything with wheat, oats, barley and rye in them,” she said. “It was mind boggling to learn just how many foods have gluten.
“I felt so good and my sports performance improved so much when I dropped foods with gluten from my diet, that my desire to continue feeling good automatically enables me to adhere to a gluten free diet. What we eat affects all aspects of our wellbeing.
“But with some guidance and taking on an online coach/nutritionist I became stronger, once my body recovered from the ailments of eating gluten. Gluten intolerance does keep you on a strict diet and generally off junk food,” she added.
Being an athlete, she knows firsthand how important sport is to a child’s development. “Sport helps kids develop as people and fosters team spirit, camaraderie, discipline and confidence. Kids active in sport learn to watch their diets if they want to be competitive. It also takes them away from TV and computers and they learn to communicate.”
She added: “Sport is also important for girls and young women because it helps them to ward off peer pressure and the confidence they earn from competing helps them to be more comfortable in the company of guys, so they are able to make both male and female friends as buddies.”
And she has a message for the over-50 population. “I continue to workout despite often being one of the older if not oldest member of a training group, at the age of 53,” she said. “Age is an issue of mind over matter, if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter!”
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