After having a surgery on June 13, Lawson-Crabtree’s quest to compete in three world championships began. On Aug. 26, she competed at the Vinfast Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Lahti, Finland; then on Sept. 24 she competed for the United States at the ITU Age Group World Championship in Pontevedra, Spain; and, finally, she wrapped her amazing journey on Oct. 14 at the 2023 Women’s Vinfast Ironman 140.6 World Championship in Kona, Hawaii.

What was able to get Lawson-Crabtree through those world championships was showing her strength through adversity, one of her life mottos.

“I have two hashtags, #strengththroughadverstity and #keeponkeepingon,” Lawson-Crabtree said. “(In) Ironman it’s common you get a tattoo after your first one, so I did and had strength through adversity because it’s basically my life. It can’t come easy, like it can’t just be flawless where you travel and it’s easy or back home things are calm.”

What originally kickstarted her Ironman career was an injury that prevented her from running.

Frewsburg’s Melinda Lawson-Crabtree is pictured second from left in the middle row with her Team USA teammates at the ITU Age Group World Championship in Pontevedra, Spain.

“I was originally a runner,” Lawson-Crabtree said. “I went to Frewsburg High School and I ran track and cross country there before graduating in 1992. After that, I went to college at Lock Haven University, ran cross country, indoor and outdoor track. I went to graduate school and continued to train there on my own, running a ton, started doing marathons and half-marathons. Through that, I got injured several times, but later on I couldn’t run for like six months due to plantar fasciitis.”

In order to keep active, Lawson-Crabtree began biking and then swimming, adding the final pieces of a triathlon. Adding those disciplines into her training, she first got involved in local triathlons where she found success.

“There was an indoor triathlon at Chautauqua Institution,” Lawson-Crabtree said. “I did that and I did really well. My first outdoor triathlon was at Findley Lake, so I did that when I was 38. I didn’t win the race, but I liked it, so I just kept doing triathlons from there.”

It turned out that the injuries, which first appeared to be a setback to Mindy’s running, actually just put her on her current path.

“I realized that running all the time, like cross training, is definitely what I needed to do,” Lawson-Crabtree said about the injury, setting her on the path of triathlons and Ironmans. “Running was my first love, but then it’s not anymore. I want it to be my favorite part, but I’ve been running for 38 years now.”

Lawson-Crabtree reaches the finish line in Pontevedra.

Already an accomplished athlete, Lawson-Crabtree didn’t start becoming a triathlete with high expectations, but the success quickly found her.

“I didn’t really realize it,” Lawson-Crabtree said about how good she could become. “I went to nationals the first time and felt like I was in over my head. I had just gotten a triathlon bike. I didn’t know.”

But Lawson-Crabtree is now, 13 years after starting, competing in three different world championships all around the world.

The journey began with the 70.3 half ironman in Lahti, Finland, which she did in August. In the half Ironman, the swimming is 1.2 miles, biking 56 miles and then running 13.1 miles. In her age group of 50-54, Lawson-Crabtree completed the course in 5:36.43 to finish 79th out of 211 athletes in the world.

However, just competing in the event was not the hassle for Lawson-Crabtree, as unforeseen travel issues with her triathlon bike added thousands of dollars to their trip and put a wrench in her quest to compete in Spain the following month.

Lawson-Crabtree poses with her medal from the Vinfast Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Lahti, Finland.

“When we went to check my bike in Finland,” Lawson-Crabtree added, “we got denied our flight, so we ended up having to stay another day. We had to rebook flights, we never got refunded, my husband and my daughter stayed back. That was a whole catastrophe. Talk emotions after finishing this race, then you run into this.”

Lawson-Crabtree and her family were forced to leave the bike in Finland to return home, making her training much more difficult ahead of competing for Team USA at Olympic Distance World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain. A friend in Finland was able to pick up the bike from the airport and brought it to a local bike shop. Then that bike shop worked on getting Mindy’s bike back to her.

“We had it sent to a bike shop in Spain,” Lawson-Crabtree said how the issue was resolved. “I have a road bike, so I rode that. I debated bringing my road bike in case I didn’t have it, but I said I can’t lose two bikes or get two bikes back.”

The bike shop which was able to hold Lawson-Crabtree’s bike in Finland knew it would be cheaper to ship her bike to another shop in Spain as opposed to the United States. So when she arrived to compete for the United States, her bike was there waiting for her and the stress was gone. All she needed to do was compete.

While racing for Team USA, Lawson-Crabtree was one of 12 women on the team in her age group and she finished the race in 17th place. She tackled the 24.5 mile bike ride, 6.2 mile run and 0.9 mile swim in just 2:42.58.

However, the extra stress off the course was not done in Spain, it only continued. Returning home, through all of the flight connections to the United States, Mindy’s bike did not arrive at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York City when she did.

“Coming back we flew Vigo to Madrid to JFK to Buffalo,” Lawson-Crabtree stated. “But when we got to JFK you had to get your luggage again and then check it, and the bike wasn’t there. We kept waiting for it to come, so we had to leave without my bike, not knowing where it was. I needed that bike for Hawaii. There’s no way that I would do Hawaii on a road bike.”

Thankfully, it did not turn out to be the same ordeal as in Finland where the airline would not fly the bike, but it was just delayed and arrived two days later. However, it did not mean it was any easier to handle the stress caused by these hurdles.

“I wasn’t doing well,” Lawson-Crabtree said. “You come back from one race and I would have to continue training with knowing that the last race that I had was going to be the very hardest race of my life. It was tough, but in the meantime, between Spain and going to Hawaii, my dad had to go to the hospital. It was just a lot emotionally. Every stressor that I could have been going through I had on my plate.”

After Spain, Lawson-Crabtree just had one more race to go and it was the big one, the 2023 Women’s Vinefast Ironman 140.6 World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.

“There was a lot of ironies that happened in this,” Lawson-Crabtree said about her quest for three world championships. “I am kind of God-fearing, I have faith and there was a lot of crazy things that happened that told me I was meant to be doing these things in my life. I always watched Ironman on TV and when I was in Hawaii, one of my memories popped up on Facebook where I posted talking about how talented these athletes are getting to this level and now I’m one of those. I never thought I was one of those people, but it’s really amazing.”

Where Ironman competitions got their start, Lawson-Crabtree was able to compete in one of the hardest single-day competitions on the planet. The 140.6 Ironman consists of biking 112 miles on the bike, swimming 2.4 miles and running 26.22 miles and she did it in 13 hours, 18 minutes to finish 153rd out of 297 competitors.

“I couldn’t believe I was going to take on three world championships in three months,” Lawson-Crabtree said. “When I talked to people at worlds they were like, ‘You’re doing what?’ or ‘You’re going where?’ and I’m like I’m doing this. I felt like I did it pretty successfully, like I placed better than I thought.”

What makes these feats all that more impressive, is that Lawson-Crabtree had surgery on June 13, just before her quest for world championships.

“I was having a lot of issues going through the change with my female parts,” Lawson-Crabtree stated. “It started in the winter and it didn’t end at all, like I was having lots of issues. I ended up being extremely anemic, so I needed iron transfusions, and this is all when I started training for this. I was going through a really bad depression with the weight on my shoulders trying to train for this and it’s paid for, it can’t be refunded for any of it. I have to show up to these races and compete against the best in the world and I’m anemic. All I want to do is sleep, but I was forcing myself to try not to and I ended up having surgery on June 13. Then, after surgery, I got an infection, which then caused complications and then I raced less than a month later which I came in fourth. I persevered. That anemia threw me for a loop, I was a wreck — my running was horrible.”

Despite all of those hurdles while preparing and then accomplishing these feats, Lawson-Crabtree achieved her goal.

“I was very proud of my performances,” she stated. “If you asked me back in May or June if I was going to be able to finish a half Ironman, let alone Olympic distance, I would say no. Then I did, then I finished the Ironman.”

It was definitely not a feat accomplished alone. Mindy’s family helped her along the way.

“He’s the best sherpa ever,” Mindy said about her husband, Dana. “He does all my bike mechanics, he’s going to be helping my one athlete pack his bike to be able to fly to Arizona. When I coach I give everything to everybody. My one girl I coach, she does mission work and she didn’t have a bike so he gave her his bike to use. His support (is amazing). He makes all the travel arrangements, he does it all, he keeps me calm. Knowing that they’re there, like I look for them (her family). My dad is my number one fan. He keeps pushing for me to get into the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame.”