Words Katie Campbell Spyrka
When I ask Mara Hafezi, 28, what her teenage self would think of her sporting achievements last year – which include completing her first Ironman triathlon, swimming in open water and running a 250K ultramarathon in the desert – she laughs. “The teenage me would have thought, ‘As if I would ever, ever do that!’” In fact, aTher a childhood swimming incident left her with a deep phobia of water, Mara never expected to visit the pool again, let alone swim 2.4 miles in open water as part of triathlon’s toughest endurance event. But, quite aptly for someone whose social media hashtag is #defyexpectationstogether, through her love of endurance sport Mara has discovered she could redefine her limits of what is possible.