Sen. Kyrsten Sinema breaks personal record in New Zealand Ironman

PHOENIX — U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona broke a personal record when she competed in this weekend’s Ironman triathlon in Taupo, New Zealand.

Sinema finished the entire race just three seconds shy of 13 hours, completing the 2.4-mile swim in 1:28:14, the 112-mile bike in 6:50:41 and the 26.2-mile run in 4:27:07, according to the Ironman Oceania app.

She placed 729th out of 1,338 participants, 147th out of the 341 female athletes and 27th out of 58 in her 40-44 age division.

While in the U.S. House of Representatives, Sinema became the first sitting member of Congress to complete an Ironman at the 2013 Arizona event, which she finished in 15:12:33.

She also did the Ironman in Kona, Hawaii, in 2015 and shaved a few minutes off her previous time, finishing around 15 hours and 3 minutes.

The senator joined the board for Women for Tri, a group that promotes women’s participation in triathlons, in 2015.

A longtime avid runner, the 42-year-old hit the streets of Phoenix last month, two weeks after being sworn into the Senate, for the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon.

On Feb. 9, Sinema ran the Sprouts Mesa-PHX Half Marathon in a personal-best time of 1 hour, 39 minutes.

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