Kate Strong — Super-charged World Champion Triathlete, Powered By Plants!

MOVE OVER WONDER WOMAN! THERE’S A NEW SUPER HERO IN TOWN, AND SHE’S VEGAN!

By Danielle Bussone

A Wales-born transplant to Australia, Kate Strong took home the 2014 World Championship in Womens’ Long-Distance Triathlon on September 21st in Weihai China in the Shandong Province.

National Title For Kate Strong in just 4th Race!

Last November, in her 4th triathlon, she won the Australian National Championship for her age category. There is no stopping this super-charged athlete; she went on to win the World Championship title in her 9th-ever competition!

Kate sailed by her competitors with 15 minutes to spare! This was Kate’s first competition powered solely by plants.

Kate Strong –  Ecstatic After Winning The World Championship In Women’s Long-Distance Triathlon In China

A year ago, troubled by chronic asthma, Kate took the advice of some friends and removed dairy from her diet. Within three days her breathing was so improved she vowed she would never consume dairy again. Over the past year, as her training sessions intensified, she realized she had already been unconsciously reducing her consumption of meat. That’s when she made the decision to give up animal protein altogether.

Kate Strong, more aptly referred to by friends as “Strong Kate,” continues her passion for racing and a vegan lifestyle. The path she has chosen is not for the faint-hearted. Last week, while nursing a knee injury and a gash on her foot, Kate still managed to come in third to qualify for the World Champion Ironman Competition. Her cut developed into a serious infection, migrating to her ankle. She was prescribed antibiotics and has been sidelined for an unspecified amount of time to allow her injuries to heal. Kate is nevertheless psyched about the Ironman competition only weeks away!

“Strong Kate” On Learning She Qualified For The Ironman Competition

She’s not just a pretty face either, though she is that indeed. Kate holds a double masters in mechanical engineering and engineering management and is fluent in three languages. Until recently she owned and operated a bed and breakfast in Australia, which she decided to sell in order to pursue her passion full time. “I’ve chosen not to take a job because I feel my energy would be diluted from my passion and I’d just be treading water again in a job to pay for the rent, in a house that I don’t really like, in a suburb where I’m not really happy, or a weekend I might or might not get if I get the time off from my boss… So, I’m working on developing strong cases of brands. Part of it is a goal that my sport is completely self-funded through sponsorship, though I don’t want to turn professional. I feel that again is too much energy dilution.”

She has teamed up with a woman in Oregon to create courses for MOOC (Massive Open On-line Courses). One of the courses she just released was about how to transition from being a marathon runner to becoming a triathlete. Her next course will be on goal setting. She plans to create a new course every month. She is also working with a company based in Sydney, Australia to create an application that will help individuals create goals in their lives to make positive changes, and give them practical guidance as to how to accomplish these goals.

At the end of April, Kate plans to move back to Europe, to the Lake Geneva area in Evian, France. World championships for triathlon will be held in Sweden and Austria so she felt the Alps would be a great place to train in preparation for those events. She will be launching products for an Australian company called IKOU, specializing in 100% vegan whole foods, cosmetics, teas, etc.

There are lots of balls still in the air as Kate juggles the demanding world of intense athletic training and the practical world of financing her passion and recruiting private sponsorship. Now that she’s sold her home, she finds herself “couch surfing;” that is staying at the homes of friends and acquaintances who have an extra bedroom or a couch she can sleep on when she is training or competing in one area or another. Often she pays her way by preparing vegan meals for her hosts, thereby exposing non-vegans to the deliciousness of plant-based cuisine. She has even had a few converts along the way!

On her jobless decision, she says, “It’s like being a vegan. As soon as you say you’re not taking a job [or you’re becoming vegan], the next question is ‘Where are you going to get your money/protein?’ It is nice to have a little fear in there. I hope you can look at me and realize that life is abundance and I won’t go without. So trust me, please. I know what I’m doing. It’s quite an exciting, brave step forwards. But you’ve got to try these things.”

It doesn’t hurt that she’s a genuinely lovely person. With the guileless face of a child and the drive of a woman on a mission, one can easily see the impact she could have on young people, showing them they can achieve anything if they just trust in themselves. By example, she teaches us to fuel our bodies with nutritious foods that will sustain us as we discover our passions, and then to pursue those passions relentlessly with everything we have and everything we are.  I know I stood a little taller after my conversation with Kate Strong.

As for how she feels about going vegan, Kate says, “I couldn’t be happier with the result, and also that I know one hundred percent that this ‘diet’ is sustainable and a great building block for my health, happiness and future.”

Follow Kate’s blog and learn about the ups and downs of training for a triathlon. Your support is most welcome if you would like to help sponsor her so she can compete on the world stage in triathlon.

Co-founder and editor of Veggin’ Out and About, Danielle writes restaurant reviews, profiles and interviews of people making a difference in the plant-based community. Her book, “Time For Change: Whole Foods For Whole Health,” will be available on VOAA and on www.amazon.com by the second week in November, 2014.

Danielle’s region is SW Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina, and anywhere she happens to stop for sustenance along the road. Contact Danielle directly to share your restaurant finds, to make comments or just to say hello.