Karen Smith has qualified for the Ironman World Championships after producing another dominant victory in Mexico.

Smith came home first in the 55-59 age group, beating her nearest rival Monica Kniep, of Brazil, by more than 42 minutes with her win guaranteeing her a spot in the biggest Ironman race in the world in Kona in October next year.

As well as winning her age group, Smith, who completed the 2.4 mile swim, the 112 mile bike leg and the 26.2 mile run in 10hr 51min 12sec, finished a fantastic 151st overall and was the 42nd female to cross the line.

The victory was Smith’s second Ironman success of the year after she won in Puerto Rico in March and was pleased that she didn’t have to exert herself too much to stand on top of the podium.

“It was a good day. I was actually supposed to do Ironman Canada in August but I ended up having to rearrange the schedule and put this one on the books.

“It is difficult to know where you are relative to others,” Smith said.

“There is an app that allows you to track and my husband was here, so he was able to track where people were in my age group and he knew how much of a lead I had.

“On the second lap of the run I knew I had a pretty good lead, which allowed me to run really comfortably without having to make any heroic moves to try to get the best possible time. It was just getting to the finish, keeping comfortable and happy.

“My fitness wasn’t super high and I couldn’t really push too hard because I knew I would be suffering on the run. I didn’t put myself in a hole because I knew I might not get out of it, so I executed the race plan that my coach and I had devised for this particular race. It was mission accomplished and I got my spot for Kona next year, which was really the goal.”

Smith now has nearly a year to prepare for the Ironman World Championships and is pleased to have the time to formulate training plans that give her the best possible chance of finishing on the podium.

“I’ve never qualified this far in advance so it’s nice not to have the pressure of doing two Ironmans next year as I just have to do the one,” Smith said.

“It does take a lot out of you and I’m probably going to take the next three weeks to not really focus on training. If I want to recharge the batteries, sit at home and drink coffee all morning I will.

“It will probably be about a six-month plan but throughout the winter it will just be base training. Not super hard work but getting some mileage in and just feeling good. I’m going to do some running races and I’ve also qualified for the Boston Marathon, so I’ll probably focus on that around January.”

If Smith does need a training partner, she has the ideal companion in her son Tyler, who competed in the triathlon at the Olympic Games in Paris this year. Tyler has been in Bermuda for the past couple of months before embarking on another hectic schedule of competition.

“It’s been really great having him home because we can chat about the sport, the physiology and all of the training,” Smith said.

“Having him home normalises what I do a little bit. If he’s doing it, he’ll be out all day training and I just go out for a couple of hours but it makes it seem like a normal thing in our house, being out on the bike or running.

“It’s been great and he’s a great source of information as he knows a lot of the athletes and what they are doing, so I get advice from him too.

“He’s been so dedicated to his sport, being in the best locations with the best training and the best people but that’s never a permanent thing. He’s always moving from training base to training base so it is nice to have him home, get him settled and reset for his next few years.”