29 February 2016 - Wanaka Triathlon

On Feb 20, my husband Ross, neighbour Jo, and I did a team half Ironman in Wanaka. Fortunately it wasn't 32C like it was at home in Christchurch. When I started the swim, it was 12C, colder than the water! But the water was still pretty cold and there were huge waves as we headed out. Here's a photo of the lake and swim course the day before (before the wind and huge rollers arrived!).

 By the second leg, the swells were hitting us broadside but on the 3rd leg, they were helping us. The last leg was straight into the sun. Wish I had found out what landmark to head for as I couldn't see the buoys. I ended up going too far inland and being directed out by a kayaker and then headed too far out so it was a bit of a zigzag at the end. But I managed to do the 1.9+k in 38 minutes, which I was happy with. 

Then Ross hopped on the bike and set out to tackle the winds. He averaged 30k/h on the legs with a tailwind and 20k/h into the headwind. He enjoyed every minute of it - well maybe not the last half hour or so - headwind plus steep hill. It's a very hilly course with gorgeous views such as this one heading back from Glendhu Bay (taken the day before again, when it was calm).

 

Jo and I were starting to worry about Ross as the time rolled past 3.5 hours. 

90k and 3:45 later, he rolled in looking not much worse than when he started. 

So off went Jo on her half marathon that she completed in 2:08 despite rain for the second half. We ran across the finish line with her so I don't have a photo (unless I pay $29 for the official one) but here's one of the weather at the finish.

It was a fun day although I did feel a bit of a fraud when at 9pm I saw some of the Ironman athletes crossing the finish line and I had only raced for 38 minutes! Here we are at home with our participant medals - no podium finish for us.

We came 161 out of 306 in the team division, which isn't bad given there were no age categories so we were competing against people in their 20s and all male teams. Next year?!

The day after the race was warm and sunny and the drive home was beautiful.