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It's not quite the Three Amigas, but Karen Bordage will be joining training partners Julia Hawley and Karen Smith at the Ironman Hawaii.

Bordage clocked 10:27 at the Subaru Ironman Canada in Penticton, British Columbia this past weekend.

"This was the most challenging bike course I've ever done, but it was absolutely beautiful," she said. "It went through a valley between two mountains, but there were two major mountain climbs and some really wicked fast descents."

Bordage said one of the great parts of the race was that the roads were lined with spectators all the way up the climbs to help encourage the riders.

"It was really fun because you had people cheering you on while you were trying to make the climbs."

Second Ironman Hawaii

This will be the second time that she has done the world championships in Hawaii. Her first time was in 2007 when she crossed the finish line in 11:03.

"This is the pinnacle race. This is what every person who's done an Ironman strives for. I've done it once, but the experience is so phenomenal, I just can't wait to go back. I'm thrilled to be able to go back and do it again.

"I did a time of 11:03 and came 14th in my age group so I'd like to improve on that," Bordage said.

She said time is working against her having a great performance at the world championships because there is just five weeks between Canada Ironman and Hawaii Ironman.

She said: "How well I do will depend on how well I recover. This is quite an onerous event so it takes a while to get your legs back under you. It's just fun to just go and experience it as well."

11-hour barrier

Bordage said she would like to break the 11-hour barrier, but much of that will depend on how quickly she recovers from her qualifying time.

Bordage does her cycling and swimming training with Hawley and Smith. She said normally the trio train at least four days a week together.

"I just think it's so special that all three of us are going. It's amazing that there's a few people going from Bermuda, but the fact that we're all training partners makes it so special."

Smith qualified for the world championships in Switzerland in July while Hawley made the qualification mark in St. Croix in May.

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