Most competitors first began in teams but moved to the individual competition soon after, she said.
With 800 individual entries this year, Mrs Skipworth said the number of teams entering had declined. She said it was a "sense of achievement" that encouraged competitors to challenge themselves individually.
It was Anthea Toheriri's second Iron Maori and she was pleased with the outcome.
Although she did not complete it in the time she wanted, she was not far off and swam her fastest ever time. She said she was relaxed and felt that also helped her performance.
The keen competitor said there was a "bit of a head wind" which slowed things down but she had previously trained in similar conditions which helped.
Miss Toheriri was nervous about the swim because she had not felt comfortable in Pandora Pond previously, but the biking proved to be the difficult this time.
She is planning to compete in the half Iron Maori on December 5 and will need to get her bike refitted before then.
She said a highlight of the day was seeing all the smiles on people's faces when they crossed the finish line. "I didn't see one person give up, all shapes and sizes competed, it was just awesome."
Mrs Skipworth said many competitors underwent huge weight losses and total lifestyle changes through training for the event.
