Updated October 12, 10:20 a.m. ET. She did it! Shirin Gerami completed the Ironman World Championship in 13 hours and 11 minutes. “It was an absolutely beautiful race,” she says. “I was able to do one of the toughest endurance challenges in the world while being covered.”
She was at the seamstress the day before the race tinkering with pockets and flaps, and the outfits felt a little heavy during the race. But it’s a good starting point.
“In the future, I want these clothes to be accessible to everyone.” And, she says, she wants to improve as an athlete. How? “Faster, stronger.”
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Only one woman has been allowed to represent Iran in triathlons. Her name is Shirin Gerami, and this weekend the athlete faces her biggest test yet.
Shirin Gerami on her bike at the 2016 Ironman triathlon in Hawaii. Photo by Tony Svensson/Ironman
First, she’ll swim 2.4 miles in choppy water. Then, she’ll bike 112 miles. She’ll top off the race with a full marathon, on a road that crosses a landscape described as “barren lava fields.”
It’s the Ironman World Championship on October 8 in Kona, Hawaii, and it’s notorious for 40-mile-an-hour winds and 90-degree heat.
Most competitors wear some version of a leotard or a swimsuit. But Shirin Gerami will do the whole thing in a hijab. That’s what the Iran Triathlon Federation has required for her to represent them.
Iranian law says all women must follow Islamic dress code by wearing “appropriate hijab.” The term doesn’t come with a clear definition, but it means covering the hair and neck with a veil and dressing modestly, with loose-fitting clothing that hides arms and legs.
Gerami, who is in her 20s, started doing triathlons as a hobby during her last year of college at Durham University in England. Then, one night, a friend suggested that she should represent Iran in the London triathlon.
“So I phoned them up and said I’m an Iranian, I live in London and would it be possible to represent?”
Full NPR Story
Original 303Triathlon story
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