Whilst Lucy Charles-Barclay and Kat Matthews are in every headline, interview, podcast, shake out run, swim and the rest, there are four other Brits, that could be grabbing headlines for different reasons, on race day. All should be on your list of ‘ones to watch’.
Holly Lawrence, has for the last few years made it clear she wanted to race Kona. Qualifying with fifth at IRONMAN Lake Placid, her desire to race another full was dented, as she found it a very different experience to the shorter T100 or 70.3 distance. However, Lawrence is a fierce competitor and is an IRONMAN 70.3 World Champion. Now a mother too, Lawrence has come back from maternity leave firing on the T100 circuit. With this just being her second ever IRONMAN, (and it maybe a Kona one and done) she’s not really being talked, but could have a big impact on the race with her swim speed, and well just who knows.
Steph Clutterbuck is another athlete who could impact at the start of the race, as a good swimmer and strong cyclist. Having raced as an Age Grouper, and was part of Team Zwift a few years ago, Clutterbuck stepped up to race Pro a couple of years ago. She qualified finished second at IRONMAN Chattanooga at the end of 2024. She unfortunately had some health issues earlier this year, which set her training back quite a bit, but I feel will race with heart and gratitude for being back on a start line again, and at Kona for the first time as a Professional.
She’s maybe coming in more rested than other women which could be powerful on race day, but don’t underestimate Steph. We definitely haven’t seen her best yet, and it may not be on Saturday, but I feel her name will be one to watch in the coming years.
Rebecca Anderbury is another new pro just racing since 2023 and steadily improving over the years. Qualifying at IRONMAN Hamburg in eighth, on that crazy fast day, Anderbury like Clutterbuck is a name to watch this year and over the coming years. Having won many IRONMAN 70.3s and IRONMANs and podiums as an Age Grouper, this year she took her first Professional win at 70.3 Poznan. She’s also a qualified pharmacist who spent two years working on the Covid frontline.
‘When’ and not ‘if’
But there is also another Brit we should all be talking about. A name for the future but also a name for now. India Lee, or Indie Lee.
Indie has been racing professionally for several years now. Whilst she came from a short course background, her story is a little different from the athletes who grow up through that system.
She won IRONMAN 70.3 Weymouth back in 2018 on debut and has since gone on to take more wins and podiums. Whilst she’s been racing middle distance since 2018, it was in 2024 when she took the win at the Miami T100 that everyone started to take notice. Whilst the win was a surprise in some ways, many who have followed Indie and the sport, saw it as a very well deserved win and performance that had only been a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’.
A sixth at IRONMAN Israel in 2022, then a second at IRONMAN Florida in 2024 qualified her for the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice last year. A DNF there was followed by her announcing she was just going to focus on middle distance. But there she was on the start line at IRONMAN Les Sables this year, where she took the win, pretty convincingly and is now starting in Kona for the first time.
Ziggy stardust
So, who is Indie Lee?
Firstly, and perhaps most importantly (sorry Indie) who is Ziggy?
Ziggy is Indie’s three-year-old cockapoodle. I can speak from my own experience too as a ‘dog mum’ now, but for Indie, Ziggy made a huge positive impact when she joined the team.
I think we underestimate the power that ‘our best friends’ can have on our lives, for the better. Indie admits that she was (is) a really bad over thinker and anxious person, and can suffer bad anxiety, but overnight this changed with the arrival of Ziggy and transformed her life.
Having wanted a dog for a while, Indie had resisted with all the travel we do as athletes for training camps and races. However, with the unconditional support of her parents to take care of Ziggy when Indie is away, they encouraged her to take the next step. We did then carry on talking all things dogs for a while, and whilst I’d love this to be an article on Ziggy and Indie, I need to pivot back to Triathlon, yet I feel important to mention as I think (yes biased), dogs, pets can have an incredible effect on our mental and physical health, and for Indie I think this was important.
Last time Indie was in Kona (2023), was as a friend and training partner to fellow Brit Ruth Astle. “Keeping her sane with a little dose of silliness”. Now here competing, it’s not lost on her, the support that she has from the friends who have come out to support. Her coach Sam Proctor, friend and fellow Pro Rosie Wild, and good friend and photographer Jack Schofield (@two26_photography), have all with Indie created a strong powerful, fun filled team out here for the race.
Indie says that for years she took it seriously and put too much weight on races and results. But whether it’s Ziggy, the team she has around her, a change in perspective, Indie is in a different place. She seems in a really good place. Happy, grateful, present, calm, relaxed.
Coach and friend
For much of our conversation, there was laughter and banter between the team. She has an incredible appreciation for being here with friends, that ‘this’ is her job and wanting to create good memories about the whole experience, not just the race. It’s a powerful mindset and position to be in come race day.
A complete U-turn came after the IRONMAN World Championship in Nice 2024. A DNF, and being really scarred by the race, Indie was adamant that was it, and that she ‘didn’t’ have the minerals’ for the distance. But after a slow start to 2025, and with those confidence doubts creeping in, Indie thought “she’d give IRONMAN a go again”. Racing and winning IRONMAN Les Sables, she found joy again in the training, and love the race and finds herself back at the World Championship.
Throughout the interview, there was banter and interjection (both ways) between Indie and Sam, her coach now for the past two years, but also a good friend. A unique relationship, which in order to work well, efficiently and of course productively from a performance perspective needs to have clear boundaries between coach/athlete and friends. But again, if managed well, with the respect from both sides and knowing where these boundaries lie, can again be incredibly powerful.
When it’s training it’s business, and they seem to be able to switch off and switch between the two well, so as only to strengthen the relationship. Any ‘disagreements’ are able to then be laughed about, when outside the training session, with no grudges, or angst carrying over.
Although clearly Sam was still slightly annoyed that Indie had ‘deceived’ him by wearing her fins during the first set of their swim session the other day. Sam thinking he was getting dropped, or that perhaps his athletes were just swimming incredibly well and his coaching had worked… only to realise she was still (sneakingly) wearing her fins.
Coach Sam: “Indie was wrong…” Friend Indie: “Sam should have brought his fins”. But they can laugh and joke about it now, and the stories get better. They seem to have this strong relationship, serious when needed to be but fun, relaxed, supportive around that.
British 1-2-3?
Indie went through the USA collegiate running system, but like so many was broken by the experience and system. Returning to the UK, she thought her time in sport had ended and that she would join the corporate world in London. Fortunately her UK running coach, saw her ability and talent and the flaws in the USA system, and persuaded her to try triathlon, reducing her running mileage and the impact that had, by bringing in the swim and the bike.
Having gone through school and straight to University in the USA, her parents persuaded her to take a gap year, and so she did, training for Blenheim Triathlon. Getting an elite start based on her running background, she finished 12th and got the bug.
The next step was short course racing, but having not been in the British Triathlon system from a young age, and her skills not matching the tactical racing Team GBR were employing at the time, she fortunately for our sport moved up to middle distance racing. Appreciating the freedom around racing and being able to some extent race by your own rules, rather than federation hoops to jump through and tape to get stuck in.
I’ve been a fan of Indie since she first started racing the middle distance back in 2018/2019, just waiting for her to break through and take a win, knowing it was a ‘when’ and not ‘if’. Spending more time with Indie, getting to know her a little better during our chat, seeing her relationships with her coach, friends, how relaxed she seems, how her mindset has changed, was super inspiring and exciting.
Underneath though I know is a fearsome competitor, incredibly strong, powerful and fast. Whilst still having limited experience over the full distance, and this being her first time racing on Kona, I still think that with her attitude and experience she is in a fantastic position to take advantage of the race as it unfolds.
Someone asked me the other day, if we would have one or two Brits on the podium. I replied saying it would be a clean sweep with three!
Are we in a triathlon boom, or hurtling towards burnout? Laura Siddall on the growth of the sport
