New Zealand Ironman Race Report - Better Late Than Never.

Rules, Rules, Rules.

The new rules made for interesting racing this year at the New Zealand Ironman race.  The new 10 metre rule was well talked about.  I was to discover some rules were still being changed the afternoon before the race.

Due to Achilles issues and 8 weeks of no running, I knew I was never going to be able to run the full marathon.  Next best option - film my race.  I scanned the rules, couldn't find any rule against filming and even asked.  So, with my new GoPro and emails from Ironman NZ and Tri NZ saying there was no rule against it, I was set to go.  However,  Friday afternoon JUST after I had racked my bike I received a phone call informing me that the Ironman corporation had made a decision that no cameras were allowed. Silly rule really!

Beautiful start to the day!

RACE DAY  

After many years of bad weather, today made up for all of them! Lake Taupo was flat, warm, calm and extremely clear.  I started slow, got into a good rhythm and was even managing to swim pretty straight.  I was actually enjoying the swim until some plonker, who had all the room in the world, decided to grab my wrist and pull me down.  He was wearing a yellow cap, 40-44 age group?

Where in the rules does it say you are allowed to do that?  It certainly rattled me and I guess that was his intention.  I was happy to finally reach the shore and see the clock say 59 minutes.  That is a personal best for me.

The run to T1 was a long one but with the crowd 3-4 deep the time flew by.  T1 was uneventful.

Biking along the foreshore, I could see a bunch just ahead of me and was torn between chasing them down or starting slow.  I chose to start slow and ease my way up the hill, as it turned out everyone else had the same idea.  As I was approaching the main road to Reperoa, still going up hill leaving Taupo, I saw someone get busted for blocking (he was riding beside or just behind another competitor and made no effort to pass).  It was reassuring to see the rules being followed through.  From that point on I made a conscious decision to ride on my own.  I thoroughly enjoyed the ride out and back, the first 90km was my fastest including my Half Ironman times.  

End of Lap One, All Going Well

End of Lap Two, Finally!!!

 The second lap wasn't so pretty, I missed a gel and struggled to key off anyone as very few athletes were in sight.  It wasn't until I reached an aid station where I got a bottle of coke that things came right.

It was a relief to finally reach T2.  Biking on my own meant I had too much time to assess things like my head over heating in my aero helmet.  It was such a great feeling to finally take it off.  I took my time through T2 and eased my way onto the run course. 

Start of the marathon

Easy to smile at the beginning

Again, I wanted to start slow and saw a bunch about 50 metres up the road.  I was wondering, do I chase and run with them or stick to my plan?  Interestingly, the gap stayed the same for quite some time.  During the early stages my main focus was to keep my body temperature down by grabbing as much ice as I could from the aid stations.  I was able to run for 33km, then my legs locked up.  It was an enjoyable walk home, the crowds could see my arm bands and appreciated I didn't have far to go.  The highlight of the whole race was the crowds cheering in the last km.

 

  Walking down the finishing straight was amazing; I only wish I had my camera to record it.

Later on that night Danielle and I went back to cheer home the athletes finishing in the last hour.  It was great to see Bevan Docherty mixing with the crowd.

Here is a short video of the last athlete to finish under the 17hr time cut off and become an Ironman.

Auckland 70.3 Half Ironman Race Report – A Gentleman’s Race

 This was the first time this race was being held so I was looking forward to a different course.

Danielle had organised some excellent accommodation which meant we were only a few minutes walk from transition. On race morning, I was able to get my gear set up quickly and with time to spare was able to admire all the different bike setups.  Most people were carrying two bottles, some one, I went for a three.  I believe my age group (male 35-39) were the luckiest age group in the entire field, we started straight after the pros. Pro men 6:30am, Pro women 6:33 and then us 6:38.

Getting ready for my wave start

The sea was warm and calm, though a little murky.  It was one of the most pleasant swims I have experienced, very little bumping. The five turns actually broke up the course and added to the pleasurable experience.  Being on the inside of a group as we approach a buoy is one of my pet hates, yet during this race when I was on the inside preparing myself to be swum over, it didn’t happen, the others stayed wide of me.

Spread out nicel

WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?  This means, when I race and people are bashing into me, I now know they are not from my age group, the male 35-39 age group must be one of the most considerate age groups that race J.  Good work guys!

T1 was uneventful and I was quickly on the bike making my way north via the Auckland Harbour Bridge.  The climb up wasn’t too bad; I really struggled with my tri spoke and a slight cross wind going down the other side.  The time lost on the descent was quickly made up on the flat and through the hills.  The north loop was fantastic, fast smooth roads with a tail wind and the little loop through the streets brought out the spectators, even at 7am.  I was getting used to the tri spoke and was able to enjoy the ride back to the bridge with a head/cross wind.  Once over the bridge again we had to weave our way through some streets while crossing wet tram tracks as it had started drizzling.  The south side of the course was along the beach front and back twice.  The ride out with the tail wind was magic.  The first lap I rode with no one around and it was hard to gauge my effort/pace.  During the second lap there were a lot of other age groupers on the course and trying to catch them helped maintain some urgency.

 

I took my time with T2 as I was in no rush to start running.   The course went through the waterfront apartments then out a few kilometres and back.  We did this twice.  Like on the bike, when I started the run there weren’t many athletes on course, so when I acknowledged the spectators cheers they then cheered me on even more which was fantastic.  I did what I could during the run but it was always going to be a case of survival.  As I was running back for the last time, I looked at my watch as I passed the last aid station, 18km. I thought, only three kilometres to go, so I didn’t take anything from the aid station.  When my watch beeped at 22kms and I still wasn’t close to the finish line, I blew mentally.  Some say the run was 22.5km, others 23km.  My Garmin said 22.6kms.  That being said, it was a great day out and I’ll be back next year.

Ten Rounds with Mike Tyson

Ok, so it wasn’t quite like going 10 rounds with Mike Tyson, but it was HARD!

I arranged to have a ‘Boot Camp’ in Nelson with Gary and Susie.  They were fantastic hosts, nothing was ever a problem and they made sure I got on the plane with absolutely nothing left in the tank or my legs.

I thought about listing all the highlights but there were simply too many.  A couple of the ‘major’ highlights were:

Running the Abel Tasman

Kaiteriteri Beach



Doesn't get better than this!!!



It was a beautiful day, we caught the ferry from Kaiteriteri to Tonga Quarry .   The run was superb.  In the 2^nd to last kilometre I felt myself starting to blow, so I picked up the pace trying to drop them.  I not only failed to drop them, I got dropped on the last kilometre.  Mental note – never try and out run runners.  2:53hrs/27.2kms in the bank!

At the start

 

 

Another beautiful beach.



Long ride around the outskirts of Nelson – Another amazing day lead to a long scenic ride through the hills and valleys of Nelson. The coke stop near the end topped off the ride for me.

 



Snow capped mountains in the back ground.



Early morning swim – Susie and I went for a swim in Tahunanui, absolutely picturesque!





It was nicer to swim in than it looks.



Best Bike Ride in New Zealand – Downhillers pay for shuttle runs, I think cyclists would pay for this ride.  The three of us drove to St Arnaud (Lake Rotoiti), where Gary and I suited up and prepared ourselves for the fastest ride of our lives.  We were riding mostly downhill with a strong tail wind behind us – St Arnaud to Nelson.  There were times I felt uneasy due to spending so much time in the aero bars spinning out my biggest gear.  It really was a case of just holding on and enjoying the ride.





Gary and I at Lake Rotoiti



Caned

The Rice Mountain Classic is one of the ‘big’ races for the PNP Cycling Club and I was keen to give it a go.   I nervously entered B grade - 140km (C grade’s race was much shorter) as my cracked ribs were still giving me issues.

Surprisingly the pace early on was easy going, in fact too easy as C grade which started 3 minutes behind caught us like we were standing still.  The pace picked up with some of the young C Grade kids taking off and having their 5 minutes of glory.

On the first major hill the real contenders went to the front and set to work.  Hill climbing has never been my strong point so it was a matter of survival.  I hoped I would be able to catch them on the down hill – wrong!  As soon as I crested the top the skies opened up and it poured down.  This neutralised my plan and actually slowed me down as I hadn’t spent much time on my road bike and wasn’t prepared to take any risks.

After a few agonising kms along the flat, a few of us formed a group and managed to rejoin the lead group.  We stuck together through the turn around point and were making our way back, when I experienced a low patch around the same time the bunch started a long steady climb into a head wind.  Slowly, ever so slowly, I drifted off the back.

Once I lost the bunch I eased up to wait for the next bunch.  Unfortunately an experienced triathlete named Peter Kane caught me before the bunch did.  He asked me if I wanted to do a 2 up TT with him for the rest of the race – 60km.  I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to keep up with him but the idea of riding alone into a strong head wind wasn’t appealing, so I decided I would give it a try.

I took my turns when I could and we slowly ticked off the Kms.  The rain eased up but the headwind remained relentless. Peter and I stayed together until the finish line even though he towed me near the end. I ran out of fluids with about 20km to go.  What surprised me the most was I consumed 4 bottles of fluid and needed 1 more, Peter did the entire race on 2 and finished with a few sips left.

Once I crossed the finish line I gingerly made my way into town, bought a nice cold bottle of Coke, sat in the shade and cherished every single drop!

Note:  In New Zealand, caned means to be beaten by a large amount, in this recount, I was caned by Peter kane.

There’s Adventure Then There’s ADVENTURE!!!

Mike from the Bike Hutt organised a 200km ‘fun ride’ in the Wairarapa.  It all seemed easy on paper; turn up with a bike that can handle gravel roads and be fit enough to ride for 6-8 hours.  Most of us turned up on cyclocross bikes with slick tyres, a few people rode road bikes with 25c or 28c tyres.

We started off together but soon split into small bunches.  I found myself at the front with two guys (Andy and Thomas).   All was going well, we arrived at the first check point (the support van was there with all our gear).  After a quick bite to eat and putting on some warmer clothes as it had started raining, we set off in high spirits.  The gravel roads were fantastic and the heavy rain just added to the excitement.

Everything was going to plan until the map lead us on to a farm.  The road forked, the right went to a heavily locked gate and the track on the other side didn’t seem used.  The three of us discussed our options and as the first gate seemed to go nowhere, we took the track to the left.  We all were unsure of where to go, unfortunately for me, I spotted road makers beside the gates heading into the hills and thought that was the public access route.  Biking through sheep and cow paddocks on road bikes was a little strange. 



Thomas just after he went flying over the handle bars

 

Lost while making our waythrough the farm..



We persisted with pushing our bikes and at the very top, Thomas decided that we were LOST and it was time to turn around to find some of the other riders.  By this stage we had lost Andy.  I started off being very cautious on the downhills but to no avail.  Near the bottom my front wheel locked up due to too much mud causing me to crash, rip my derailleur off and crack three ribs.



This is where the adventure really began, lost, injured and with a broken bike, the priority was to get back to Martinborough.  Thankfully I had a chainbreaker and was able to make my bike a single speed.  Thomas and I agreed the best plan was to get me back to the first check point and wait there.



While waiting we decided to clean our bikes



Waiting

After an hour of waiting, we agreed Thomas would bike up the road the rest of the riders would be coming down while I made my way back to Martinborough.

After biking and walking for about an hour or two I made it back to the main road and I decided to wait there for help.

About an hour passed when a car pulled up with cyclocross bikes and a bunch of riders clambered out.  Turns out everyone had their own adventure and no-one was able to complete the full ride. 

Once we all gathered back in Martinborough, war stories were shared.

I am looking forward to next year!



There is Always Someone Crazier!!!!

 An email went out asking who was interested in running in the Tararuas.  I was super keen as it's my favourite place to run but didn’t think I had the fitness, so I thought I was crazy taking on this challenge.

We started at the top Kaitoke car park, ran up Marchant Ridge, down Omega and out via Smiths Creek Shelter.

I found it a challenging run, it was raining and cold along the tops and it took 6 hours. One of the runners managed to do the whole run in his Vibrams – CRAZY!!!!!!

Alex Revell On A Mission

For the last couple of cyclocross seasons, there has been one rider to rule them all......Alex Revell.

Photo copied from his website

I've had the privilage to race in the same cyclocorss gragde as him and like everyone else, to watch him ride off into the distance. He is fundrasing to get to the World Cyclocross Champions, you can help him by donating through is blog (Click here).