Ten Years On: Lucy Charles-Barclay on Surgery, Redemption and Lanzarote

In 2016, here in Lanzarote, I asked the media crew at Club La Santa if they could set up an interview with Lucy Charles (this was pre-marriage to Reece Barclay). They couldn’t figure out why. I explained that she’d won her age group in Kona the year before, and I had a feeling she would do well in her first professional IRONMAN race. A few days later she proved me right.

During that interview that I learned that as a teenager, Charles-Barclay had come very close to making it to the Olympics. A national team swimmer, she was one of five British women who had made the Olympic standard for the 10 km open water swim … with only one spot available. In the end, the then-18-year-old didn’t make the final cut. A few years later she would find triathlon, and set the stage for her status as one of the sport’s most recognized pros.

With that swim background, it was hardly a surprise that before the race in 2016 she joked that she was going to try and beat Jan Frodeno out of the water. On race day she came close – Frodeno hit the beach in Puerto Del Carmen in 46:52, with Charles-Barclay coming out in 47:11. She would pip the German Olympic gold medalist across the mount line and on to the bike as he struggled with his helmet. Charles-Barclay would eventually finish third, and a year later she would win here in Lanzarote. A few weeks later she won the Challenge Championship in Samorin, Slovakia and, later that year, she would begin the string of runner-up Kona finishes (2017, 2018, 2019 and 2022) that would eventually end in 2023 when she took the IRONMAN world championship title.

I mentioned that interview during today’s press conference, and Patrick Lange picked up on just how much Charles-Barclay has grown as an athlete over the last decade. She’s here in Lanzarote as the defending champion and also the reigning IRONMAN 70.3 world champion, but coming off surgery in January in which she had her plantaris tendon removed. She bounced back to win the Volcano Triathlon earlier this month, and is expecting to hear a lot of “slow down” from her husband and coach Reece Barclay on Saturday as she returns to full fitness and gears up for another championship season.

I caught up with Charles-Barclay after today’s press conference.

Q: I still fondly remember that 2016 interview at Club La Santa. It’s been quite a journey for you since then.

It’s been such an incredible journey, to be honest. One that, I guess if I’d written it down in a book, I never would have believed. It’s been such an amazing 10 years. And to be back on this start line after all that time, feeling like still the same athlete, but also a very different athlete as well. It’s super special.

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Q: What is it about Lanzarote and Club La Santa that keeps you coming back? I’m guessing there are other resorts who would be happy for you to come and stay, but you guys seem to have quite an attachment here.

It’s where my journey began, to be honest. I first came to Club La Santa still as a swimmer — I remember doing 100 100s in the old pool before they had the two new ones, so I’ve really seen the growth of the centre. Now they have three Olympic-sized swimming pools, which is any swimmer or triathlete’s dream. I’ve travelled all around the world and never found something that is as good as Club La Santa. It feels like a second home. You have the green teamers who are so friendly, who you see every day. You’re able to ride the whole island, which is incredibly tough at times, but I think that’s the point — it sets you up so well for any triathlon season. When I first raced here, it was about doing the toughest IRONMAN and knowing I could race anywhere in the world, and I still believe that. So it always sets me up well for a great year.

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Q: This year you’re coming in after surgery — who needs a plantaris tendon anyway, right? You had that removed in January. What has that recovery been like?

I remember barely running in January. I was in so much pain from the swelling of the plantaris rubbing on my Achilles tendon, and I texted my sports doctor back in the UK and he was like, “We can literally operate in two days.” I remember sitting on the green at Club La Santa debating whether I should do this. The decision was made when I thought: if I’m getting to my Kona camp here in August and it’s still annoying me, I’ll just be so annoyed that I didn’t nip it in the bud and get the surgery. So I decided to go ahead, and honestly, it was the best thing I could have done. Being back here running now…