Rockin’ the bike at Gulf Coast. Man, imagine not only being able to race consistently at 74, but being able to hold that position on the bike. She went 6:40, which would have put her 3rd in 55-59 by only 9 seconds!
A buddy hosted her in Atlanta Thu night, then drove her down to the Race and said she’s as nice and humble as you would imagine. Plus, she raced an Oly two weekends before Gulf Coast, then a longish Du the weekend before. Seems she is of the Petr Vabrousek mold: all racing, no training.
More power to her, what an inspiration for a healthy retirement. 
T
I was doing traffic control at that “longish” du she did. The bike leg started out through a gravel parking lot (pretty muddy – it’d been raining for a few days prior), and she walked her bike through it. When mounting her bike on the roadway, she said, “Only a woman would be worried about getting dirty…” She was smiling the whole way, and thanked us all as she passed for helping out the race.
Very nice lady.
And she’s at again this weekend…I’ll have the pleasure of driving Sister down to Memphis for Memphis in May this weekend and hanging out with her the whole weekend…I sure hope she likes BBQ!! I will take time to note that the good weather seems to follow her…Gulf Coast was great and this weekend is looking spectacular too!!
Race Safe,
Paul
I know a lady in the same age group who races against Sister Buder and says -ahem- that the good sister sometimes “bends” the rules.
Trash talking in the female >70 yrs agegroup! And against a nun!
Now that’s competitive.
Colin
After IM Canada last year, I had to go to the medical tent because I couldn’t breathe. I fainted a couple of times–probably from frantically hyperventilating. One of the times I woke up, and there’s Madonna Buder sitting at the edge of my bed. I recognized her immediately even though I had only seen her on TV prior to this…probably the only time in my life that I’ve actually considered that I may be dead. Here’s a 70-something year old nun talking to me when I’m in a rather poor state of mind and know that my health is in question…scary, at least to me.
Turns out she broke her arm a couple of weeks before the race and decided to volunteer instead…maybe one of the nicest people I’ve ever met.
This discussion made me want to learn more about her. Here’s a link:
http://www.spiritualityhealth.com/newsh/items/article/item_9590.html
Actually, it’s funny you ask that because I know first-hand that she “bums” rides and crashes on couches when needed…She has relatives here in StL and has taken up visiting them for a few weeks…in the interim she is racing at Memphis (ride provided by yours truly) and then 1/2 Max in June with transportation and housing arrangements done through myself, the race director and a friend who works at the race site…when we get back from Memphis, she is staying in a dorm at one of the local Catholic schools… It is my understanding that when travelling, nuns from different areas have standing offers of reciprocal lodging (like visiting golf club privileges)…
Either way she gets around on a shoestring budget and then goes out and let’s it rip on the course…really inspiring lady.
Paul