Donaldson, the Challenge Wanaka 25-29 year age group champion in 2024, grew up in Auckland and studied at University of Canterbury in Christchurch before moving to Wanaka two years ago.
Donaldson says she is in the sport of triathlon "for the long haul" but is still building towards entering the professional ranks of triathlon.
Donaldson counts herself lucky she grew up in a fit and active family, with parents who gave her good support.
Her mother Belinda was a noted long distance open water swimmer, her father Malcolm a structural engineer and commercial diver, and brother Mitchell a New Zealand swimming representative at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, so it should be no surprise to learn Donaldson is a fish in the water.
She swam competitively as a teenager and butterfly was her chosen specialty.
"I just love the rhythm of it. Even now, I think about it when I am swimming freestyle. I am a drummer and multi-instrumentalist as well, which is probably why I like butterfly so much — the rhythm and the technique," she said.
However, she stepped away from competitive pool swimming while young and soon discovered biking is her favourite discipline, after randomly doing a sprint distance triathlon at Mission Bay, on a mountainbike with zero training.
Her passion for cycling grew while she was studying engineering at the University of Canterbury and discovered the Port Hills was an ideal training ground.
"Biking is my favourite because you are going really fast and it is like sightseeing, taking a scenic tour. You can cover so much more distance than you can running," she said.
After a couple of years of doing sprint and Olympic triathlons for fun, she grabbed a last-minute opportunity to do a 90km bike leg in a Challenge Wanaka team in 2020.
"Challenge Wanaka is really what opened my eyes to middle-distance triathlon. The community buzz of the event was so incredible that it inspired me to get into middle-distance tri.
"My favourite thing about Challenge Wanaka is the rolling bike terrain and scenic mountains and lake. I don’t really have the words to describe the feeling and how much I love it," she said.
Donaldson has been doing the middle-distance triathlon (1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21.1km run) for just over three years now, "self-coaching" while working part-time for her father.
Challenge Wanaka does not have an elite female category this year, so being considered one of the top female seeds and the "hometown heroine" made her feel "a little flattered," she said.
"That publicity has come on me from out of the blue."
Donaldson raced the women’s open category at the Tauranga Half on January 18, finishing sixth female overall and first woman in the open category.
She also raced Oxman in November 2024, placing second, and at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Taupo 2-24, finishing 11th female overall and fifth in the 25-29 age group.
"As a self-described swim/biker, who has really battled to find my groove with running, I have been very proud of executing consecutive run PBs for all three of these races," she said.
She puts her improvements down to recent nutrition learnings — "a game changer".
"After a busy season, I am keen to take a little pressure off for a second and have fun.
"This is my hometown, and I love it. I am excited to see my family/friends on the run course and our epic community cheering along.
"It’s awesome to have the event based in town again, because the atmosphere it creates is such a big part of what makes this race so special," she said.
