FOR most of us, our ideal trip to Hawaii might well involve lazing on the beach with a brightly coloured cocktail in our hand. 

However, when 45-year-old PE teacher Ren Brennan travelled from Ulverston to Maui last year, it was not relaxation she was looking for. 

In November Mrs Brennan, who teaches at Walney School, went to the tropical paradise to take part in the Xterra World Championship off-road triathlon - battling her way through a 1.5 mile swim in the sea, 20 mile mountain bike and six-and-a-half mile trail run. 

Always a keen runner and mountain biker, Mrs Brennan began taking part in triathlons in 2013. 

“I love mountain biking and trail running and I saw this off-road mountain bike triathlon event in Coniston, so I thought I would enter that as a lark,” she said. 

Although the Coniston event was eventually cancelled, her time training lit a fire in her that eventually led to her taking part in the Xterra European Championships in Cranleigh, Surrey, last year. 

Mrs Brennan came fourth overall and third in her age group. 

She qualified for the world championships, where she again came second in her age group after competing against hundreds of athletes in the 30 degree heat and 100 per cent humidity of Hawaii. 

“Caroline Arnold has treated me as a physio and when I told her that’s when it sank in what I had done, she said it was amazing and inspirational,” Mrs Brennan said. 

During her time preparing for the event, Mrs Brennan has trained with Ulverston Tri Club, Barrow Long Distance Swimming Club and Hoad Hill Harriers.

“Joining a club is brilliant, the camaraderie is fantastic,” she said. “I think sometimes if you have got a group of friends and going to circuits or going running then that becomes your social time. 

It motivates me, you can have really good fun with people and really good crack and you get encouragement and support. I know if I join a club it will make me train.” 

Getting out into the fells on her bike or on foot or swimming in Coniston Water was a great way to relax, she said. 

“There are some days when you don’t feel motivated, but the running and the biking are just fun, the swimming is something new and it’s about technique and I want to do it and get better and master that stroke,” she said.

“When you dive in that water it is a really calming and relaxing thing.

 “Nature really speaks to you and no matter what is going on in your life if you see the mountains and the lakes it makes you realise how insignificant you are.”