So two days out from the race, being my day off of training, after a big sleep in and a pre-race massage I caught up with an old work college who lives in Mt Maunganui. We headed down to main beach where there was quite a crowd gathering in front of the surf club for free ice-creams being promoted by ‘the Hoff’. And there he was on the balcony of the surf club doing a radio interview. After a few quick snaps (see below) I was happy with my token celebrity sighting. After a restful afternoon and a welcome BBQ with other athletes and the race organisers I was off to bed. On Friday morning I finally managed to wake up before 8am and get out for some pre-race training followed by getting my bike checked from the particular mechanic Ben who spent an hour on touching up Mr Cannondale. After a swim at the local pool, racking my bike and not listening to race briefing I carbed it up and hit the hay.
Rudely awoken by my alarm clock at 4:10am (which is 1:10am Oz time- YUK!), stuffed down some toast, showered (pre-race ritual!), went down to transition where nerves really kicked in! Although some of the pro women slots were vacant (ie. Miss Swiss Caroline Steffen & Oz IM champion Carrie Lester) there was still a respectable field lining up such as 7 time NZ IM champion Jo Lawn, 3 time winner of this race Rebekah Keat, fellow Aussie Nicole Ward and some other strong Kiwi girls like Janine Simpson and Anna Cleaver. Top 5 would be doing pretty darn good!
The water was relatively warm for an early NZ morning but still didn’t give me the race start I would have liked. 5mins down out of the water from Anna Cleaver’s blazing swim time of 25:31, I hit the bike hard and didn’t feel too bad. I came out of T2 with Keat and another Kiwi girl (Blackett) who took off hard and fast. I managed to pull away from Bek by the first turn (about 4km in) and even more so with the first time around the base track of the mount. Running out onto the 2nd lap I felt a pretty sharp pain in my left quad (like it tearing) but pushed it to the back of my mind when I overtook 5th place around the first turn. Feeling pretty good 2nd time around the mount something caught my eye on the side of the track where a few people had slowed/ stopped- it was 4th place on the ground. I gave a photographer ahead the heads up that an ambo should be called and questioned myself but kept on moving. Now I REALLY felt my quad screaming at me but a big mental SHUT UP and I pushed the last 1.5km hard to finish in 4th. Happy with the solid move through the field but mildly disappointed not to make the podium. Still a PB half IM time and I’m gradually bringing my half marathon time down (unfortunately not fast enough though!). Presentations were held in the park which was lovely and it was good to be up there amongst top 5 for my first race of 2011. On and up from here.Another big thanks to my homestay family Gerald and Denise (and their beautiful labbie Tye) for my relaxing week in NZ and a lovely breaky on my last day in the mount. I’ll definitely be back next year.
Rachie xo
Pro Women: (2/90/21)
1. Jo Lawn (NZL): 4:15:38
2. Anna Cleaver (NZL): 4:16:32
3. Janine Simpson (NZL): 4:22:47
4. Rachael Paxton (AUS): 4:24:16 (30.33/ 2:19:45/ 1:31:41)
5. Michelle Bremer (NZL) 4:25:48
The 'Hoff'!
Top 5 females: 5th: Michelle, 4th: Rachael, 3rd: Janine, 2nd: Anna & 1st Jo
My homestay family: Gerald & Denise
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