(Kevin Mackinnon catches up with Virginia Berasategui, who finished third at this year’s Ironman World Championship)

Her podium finish at this year’s Ironman World Championship could hardly be considered a surprise, but for Virginia Berasategui the third place finish fulfilled a family dream – her father, Javier, was the first man from Spain to compete at the Ironman World Championships – needless to say he was a proud papa after his daughter’s impressive performance this year.

While it seems as though she’s been destined to compete in Ironman events, her arrival on the Ironman scene in 2004 with a win at Ironman Lanzarote came a bit earlier than expected.

Virginia Berasategui

“I have always said my dream is to win an Ironman … now I have realized my dream,” Berasategui said after the win on the Canary Island.

Berasategui had come to Lanzarote with some impressive credentials, but for many in the Ironman world she was a relative unknown. Her first top distance result came in 1997 when she finished third at the ITU World Championships in Nice.

It wasn’t until 2002 before she duplicated that feat, once again finishing third when Nice hosted the World Championships.

The real breakthrough came in Ibiza in 2003 when Berasategui flew through the bike course to a 10-minute lead and held that lead through the line to give the Spanish crowd a home-grown champion to cheer for.

After winning in Ibiza, the then-28-year-old set her sights on the Olympics. She began the difficult task of amassing enough ITU points to qualify for the 2004 ITU World Short Course Championships in Madeira, which would serve as Spain’s Olympic qualifying trials.

Things were going well on that front – she had to be in the top 125 in the ITU standings to be eligible to race on the Portuguese island, and appeared ready to do that after a series of top finishes through the fall. Then a crash at the European Championships put her back in the standings – instead of a top finish, she would end up crossing the line in 18th and lost valuable points.

Beresategui arrived in Madeira sitting 127th in the ITU standings – just two places short of a guaranteed spot in the elite field. She couldn’t get herself a “wild card” spot in the race, and suddenly found her Olympic dream dashed.

She didn’t spend much time moping, though. Having grown up watching her swim coach/ triathlete/ businessman father somehow manage to fit his own Ironman training around an insanely busy schedule, Berasategui had been dreaming of competing in an Ironman for as long as she had been racing.

Determined to follow in Javier’s footsteps – who had finished Kona in 10:54 in 1988, suddenly the lost opportunity of the Olympics became an opportunity to try to compete in Kona.

She made the decision to compete in Lanzarote less than two weeks before the race, but after a winter of hard training followed by a spring full of fast short course racing, Berasategui was perfectly prepared for her Ironman debut.

After taking a sizable lead off the bike, Berasategui was able to cruise through the run, claiming her first Ironman win in her first Ironman race.

“At this moment I must say thanks that I’m not going to the Olympics,” an ecstatic Berasategui said shortly after crossing the line. “I have always said my dream is to win an Ironman … now I have realized my dream.”

Fast forward five and a half years and you find an ecstatic Berasategui sitting through a press conference in Kona, where she is sitting next to Chrissie Wellington and Mirinda Carfrae.

After a DNF in her first Kona appearance, she had finally managed a sixth place finish in 2008.

“For me this Ironman is tougher than Lanzarote,” she said, when asked how she found the Kona course compared to the mountainous races she has typically done well at. “Coming from the Basque country, I like courses that are really hard like Lanzarote and Wildflower. So when I’m here I have to work on riding better on the flats by working on my power and my position.”

The inevitable question had to be asked – how much did her performance mean to her and her father, who had been her first coach as well as her Ironman inspiration?

“I was the boy he couldn’t have for sports, but I think it’s worked out. I was just talking with him and I know that he’s proud of me,” she said. “I could sense that there was a tear in his eye.”

(Reach Kevin Mackinnon at kevin@ironman.com)