About

---

Dana Brent, a Louisville native, was a mother of two, a nurse, and a seven time   IRONMAN® finisher.  After struggling on her bike during training, Dana was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease at age 49.  That did not stop her from continuing to train and compete as an endurance athlete.

  Dana lost the ability to balance a bike but kept running and swimming until she could no longer maintain a running course.  Even then, she continued to teach Masters' swim classes at Lifetime Fitness near her Virginia home.  

When Dana could no longer live independently she moved back to Kentucky to be near her three siblings. She made one final trip to Virginia in October 2016, to take on the Marine Corps Marathon.  It had been on her bucket list for years.

The photos on this page are of Dana in 2007 and 2008, the first two years for the Louisville event.  She then moved on to other events (Louisville=too hot in August). 

If Dana were alive she would be upset about the 2019 swim being cancelled.  Dana was a collegiate swimmer at the University of Kentucky and when she became an IRONMAN® after age 40 she dominated her age-group in the swim.  

She was a fearless open water swimmer (and former lifeguard).  One year she did an  IRONMAN®  swim on the Florida coast while a hurricane brewed in the gulf and the waves intimidated many athletes into dropping out.  

On July 24, 2011, at age 48, Dana's swim time at IRONMAN® Lake Placid was one hour, 30 seconds.  (Dana told us she had hoped to break an hour.)  Let that time sink in for a minute.

On August 28, 2011, while recovering from Lake Placid, Dana was a medical volunteer for the Louisville event.  After an athlete was stricken shortly after entering the water, Dana dove in and swam to him, keeping him above water until a watercraft could arrive.  Dana and a volunteer physician performed CPR while riding in the ambulance to a local hospital.  

An Unprofessional Photographer wondered why I could not find Dana or reach her during the day--she had left her cellphone on the dock when she dove in to rescue the athlete.

Dana would have taken one look at the algae bloom and . . .

Thank you for visiting and reading.