After seven years of competing in trialthons, a Bonney Lake woman is making plans to compete in the Ironman World Championships next month.

Patty McKerney is raising funds to travel to Hawaii, but plans to give about 50 percent of the money to aid in the research to help Alzheimer’s and dementia patients.

McKerney, 47, is a caregiver at the Maple Point Adult Family Home in Bonney Lake.

McKerney will compete in her first Ironman world championship after finishing third among 123 women competing in the 45-49 age division at the 28th annual Subaru Ironman Canada Aug. 29 in Penticton, B.C.

She finished the course in 11 hours, 27.06 seconds.

Eighty athletes among the more than 2,500 men and women athletes qualified for the world championships.

The world championship will consist of swimming 2.4 miles, bicycling 112 miles and running 26.2 miles – all in one day.

She said professional male triathletes can finish the course in about eight hours and professional women in about nine.

“They give the triathletes 17 hours to complete the course,” she said. “I did Ironman Canada in under 12 hours, which was my best time.”

She said every triathlete who crosses the finish line receives a finisher’s medal and winners of each age group will receive other prizes, like watches.

“The pros get money, but the amateurs don’t,” she laughed.

McKerney said because of the Hawaii temperatures, she will be able to use just one outfit to compete in, instead of changing clothes between each event.

McKerney said she didn’t participate in school sports while attending Meadowdale High School, but competed in equestrian events.

After graduating high school, she began working as an exercise rider for horses.

She said she always ran and cycled to keep fit, then started doing some personal training at a gym.

“I started meeting people who were competing in triathlons and thought I would try it one day,” she said.

Her first triathlon was a sprint distance in Kirkland in 2002.

“I just got hooked from there,” she said.

McKerney did her first Ironman competition in 2005.

“After meeting a 70-year-old doctor from Bellevue, he finally pushed me into competing in my first ironman,” McKerney said.

The closest Ironman events are in British Columbia and Idaho – both qualifying events for the world championships.

Overall, McKerney has competed in six Ironman competitions in seven years – five in Canada and the other in Idaho.

“I’m going to compete until I can’t do it anymore,” she said.

McKerney said one of her inspirations is an 79-year-old nun from Spokane who has been competing in Ironman since she was 50.

McKerney said she trains five or six times a week. She said large volume of training can be 18-20 hours a week, while a smaller volume is about 8-12 hours.

“I run, bike and swim three times a week,” she added.

McKerney said she started working as a caregiver shortly after moving into an apartment on the Maple Point facility campus.

“I was working at Fleet Feet, when the manager of the adult care home made me a good offer to come to work there,” she said. “The more I would go to the home and spend time with patients, the more I got hooked on them.”

She also has two French bulldogs who work as therapy dogs at the home.

McKerney said she is hoping to raise between about $3,000 and $5,000, put a portion goes toward research for Alzheimer’s and dementia.

“I want people to know, their donations is not just going for me,” McKerney said.

Persons interest in donating to McKerney can contact her at 253-508-7932 or e-mail her at gopattymc@aol.com.

This is the 31st year athletes from around the world will gather in Hawaii for the world championship.

Each year, more than 80,000 athletes compete for slots to the championship held every October in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii,

The Ford Ironman World Championships will be televised Dec. 19 on NBC.

McKerney can also be tracked on www.ironman.com/ironmanlive.