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Connemara raised and living in the French Beaujolais region, Anne Marie O’Toole is an endurance athlete who has completed a number of IRONMANS over the years. Here, she shares her sporting journey so far…
Name: Anne Marie O’Toole
Profession: Global Head of Marketing, Kingspan Group
The female athlete I admire most is…
Sophie Power, someone I only recently became aware of when she recently set the Guinness World Record for the fastest crossing of Ireland on foot. I admire her because she advocates for women in sport through her SHErace movement, which ultimately aims to give everyone an equal opportunity to race and an equal experience when they do.
Using her profile as an athlete to raise awareness around challenges women deal with trying to train or race, I think is so important now and also for the next generation of girls and women coming into sport. Another inspirational athlete using her voice for good is Simone Biles. She is obviously a leader in many ways, but her story really just shows how strong women are.
Favourite sporting memory…
Has to be crossing the finish line on Mother’s Day with my two daughters when my youngest was about six months old. It was a short sprint distance triathlon and I really hadn’t the miles in, was still breastfeeding and hadn’t slept a full night in a few years at that stage (!), so I’m sure it wasnt all fun, but the memory is engrained.
If I wasn’t an athlete I would be…
A very hard person to be around!!
My favourite pre-competition meal…
Chocolate sports cake — there is a brand here called Overstims that do gatosport chocolate cakes that are easy to eat at 4am!
My pre-competition playlist includes…
Anything that is upbeat or remixes, half the time I don’t know the words or the names of songs! Vynx dance on spotify is my go to generally!
My biggest sporting goal is…
Doing la Diagnole des fous in La Reunion Island… 175km and 10,000m2 across the island.
Sports brands I love (Irish or otherwise)…
Karitraa which is a Norweign brand (run by an ex pro lady skier), or Crazy, which is an Italian brand that does amazing gear for women.
Biggest splurge to celebrate a win…
A new Garmin watch.
How do you mind your mental health?
Sport helps me keep and set boundaries and become more aware of what is important and what is less so. There are always going to be difficulties and challenges, and knowing you are doing the right thing and being confident in your own choices is something that helps keep my head in the right place.
My three desert island beauty products are:
Avene moisturiser, Burt’s Bees lip products, and that’s it!
I need 9 hours of sleep a night because….
I like to get my sessions in early in the morning before the kids are up and I start work. I also need a lot of recovery time generally, so anything less than eight hours starts to make training a bit more prone to niggles.
Confidence, to me, is…
Being comfortable doing or saying the right thing even if you know some people won’t agree with you and may go against you, but you’re willing to fight for it.
How do you get over a bad performance?
There is always a journey to get there. So while it’s hard to accept when it’s not how we wanted it to be, there is always a reason… and then I normally go and try to find my next race to show myself what I can do!
Lastly, why is sport such an integral part of community, on a club, local, national and personal level?
It brings people together to share a passion, helps you learn more about yourself and others, and makes you grow as an individual but also as part of a group.