The Race

What a day- a long race that seemed to fly by. Obviously by looking at our swim times we have some work to do.....

The Swim
It can only really be described as carnage with 1000 competitors starting at one time. Shannon and I decided not to take the 'racing line' as to avoid being swum over. It can get quite vicious with Kerryn incurring 2 fractured ribs within the first 200 meters of the race.

Shannon and I plodded along the 3.8km course to come out at 1hour 11 and 1 hour 13min respectively. Nothing too fast but certainly not the slowest. All competitors have a maximuim of 2hrs 30 to complete the swim. Jason and Elliott finished around the hour mark- two great swims for them both.

Part of the swim course runs along a local golf course. Needless to say there were more than a few golf balls on the lake bottom. Despite the temptation, and my time suggesting otherwise, I did not stop to pick any up for future hacks around a golf course.

The Bike
The longest discipline of any ironman- 180km. In Taupo the route is flat but exposed. Luckily there was no wind so very conducisive for a good time. Shannon and I are both very happy with our times of 6.09 and 5.51 respectively. Both times represent improvements from Austria so the time spent in Australia was certainly worth it.

I missed Shannon on the second loop and was concerned that something had happened. Much to my relief I was later to see her smiling on the run course, looking deceptively good for someone going to post a great marathon time.

The course is a two lap 90km loop. Riders have to stay at least 7m behind the rider in front to stop 'drafting' from occurring. Drafing is considered cheating- anyone caught is stopped for 4 minutes. Although generally good, there seem to be a minority of competitors that want to bend the rules as much as they can which is a shame.

In any ironman the bike is tough as you have to balance speed with stamina. It's very easy to get carried away and go off too quickly only to 'bonk' later in the ride. To bonk is to hit the wall- to loose energy, balance and mental determination. It's best to finish the ride feeling good with extra energy in the legs- afterall there is a marathon to follow.

The leading cyclists complete the ride in around 5 hours....they are frighteningly quick!

The Run
42km to go and almost there!
Getting off the bike is always a relief as nothing can really happen to stop you finishing the race. If you have to you can walk. With a 17 hour cut off time, both Shannon and I, had plently of time completing the first to disciplines in circa 7 hours.

But it hurts- getting the legs turning after 6 hours on the bike is tough. It's really at this point that the support really comes in to play. You are going slowly enough to appreciated the support and to thank them. It's amazing what a spur of energy support gives. Jason, Kerryn's, Elliots friends and families were fantastic, as were Tris and Emily. Thanks a lot! Biscuits, banana's, oranges and generally anything that was available helped us get from one food station to the next.

I had two tough stages of the run- 20km for about 4 km when mentally I wanted to walk and at 29km when I could not breath. I refused to let myself stop- more fearful that I would not start running again and more importanltly I wanted to run a sub 4 hour marathon. Having got through the two stages of hardship I got to 37km with 30min to go. A final spurt in the last 5km got me in at 3.57- possibly the most satisfying part of the day. As with the bike and swim however, plenty of room for improvement in 2008.

Shannon ran a 4.03 marathon- all the while looking very much as ease and enjoying herself. This was a great run and an improvement of almost 50 mins on last year, on a more hilly course than Austria.

The Race
Shannon & I both achieved our goal of improving our times, coming in with 11.41 and 11.09 respectively. Shannon came in 10th in her age group and 38th overall in the women's category. I came in 56th in my age group and 246 overall. In the first quartile but with room for improvement....

Jason and Elliott completed their first (and probably not last) ironman's with 11.14 and 11.53 times- both great times.

Kerryn, an elite athlete and experienced campaigner, unfortunately did not finish but took pleasure out of us having a great day. She and Jase are now looking foward to gettng married on March the 8th. I'm not sure if we could have worked, trained and raced an IM and then got married.

For us, the race is not about winning but achieving our time goals. At 16hours 45min, 15min before the cut off, we were all truely humbled. As able bodied people we completed what we consider a tough challenge. A Japanese athlete with two prosthetic legs from the knee down ran the final 200 meters to complete his first Ironman. At midnight, there were several thousand people cheering in a perfect stranger, whilst all sharing complete admiration and respect for a fellow athlete.

Shannon and I are now looking forward to travelling in the South Island, whilst also planning our next race....