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Five years ago Turia Pitt couldn't walk. Yesterday she finished an ironman triathlon.

Five years ago Turia Pitt was told she’d never run again after being horrifically burned in a bushfire.

Yesterday, she completed an ironman triathlon in just under 13 and a half hours.

It was her first since suffering burns to 65 per cent of her body while competing in a West Australian ultra-marathon in 2011.

“It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

“I don’t have to do anything else any more.”

It seems unlikely the 28-year-old will be stopping anytime soon though, even after a 3.8km swim, 180km bike ride and 42.2km run, she still managed a celebration dance at the finish line.

Pitt’s partner Michael Hoskin was at the Port Macquarie event to cheer her on and said there’s been more than a few tears along the way.

“She couldn’t walk five years ago — look at her now,” he said.

“It has brought a tear to my eye and I don’t normally cry. It has been an amazing journey. It’s the indomitable spirit of the human being.”

 

After the 2011 bushfire, Pitt spent 864 days in hospital and underwent more than 100 surgeries.

She had fingers amputated and had to learn to walk again, on Friday she said she was fitter than ever before.

“What gets me out of bed is just getting back to that really compelling reason of why I wanted to do ironman – just to prove that I’m fitter now than I was in the ultra marathon,” she told the Sydney Morning Herald.

“What will get me through is just thinking about things in my life that I’m grateful for. Grateful to be able to experience the day, grateful for Michael, for my mum, for this beautiful country we live in and grateful that I’m still alive and can still experience the day.”

Well, she exceeded even her own expectations – she thought she’d finish in 14 and half hours.

Last year Turia Pitt came by the Mamamia office in Sydney. You can listen to her No Filter interview with our founder Mia Freedman here: