1990 - First triathlon - New Zealand Secondary School Championships, I don't have a copy of the results but I was about 120th out of 125 or something like that. I did the 750m swim in a borrowed wetsuit, I had to walk my bike on one of the hills of the 20km bike and ran the 5km run in basketball boots. I didn't do that well but it was a start and kept me interested.
After that race I did a couple more school type triathlons and got better when my family moved up on a hill and I cycled to and from school every day. I ended up getting 17th overall or something like that on the back of a good run and bike for a reverse format.
I didn't really get back into running and triathlons until I was 20 when I started learning to swim properly at a swim squad and had visions of doing an Ironman triathlon one day. I was always very sporty, playing many different sports, but I was quite overweight 90kg for someone who is 172cm tall.
I did my first half marathon the day after I turned 21 and finished in 1hr 32mins.
After this I started getting into triathlons in a big way. I did a number of standard distance races (1.5/40/10) and then started doing some Half Ironman races (2/90/21).
I have now done at least 6 standard distance triathlons with a PB of 2:08, at least 5 Half Ironman races with a PB of 4:14 and 7 Ironman races with a PB of 10:11.
I have had some amazing experiences throughout my athletic career. I have never been that fast or close to the elite level but I love training, racing and pushing myselft to achieve my goals. One highlight is when I raced for the New Zealand age-group team in the 1999 World Long Distance Triathlon Championships which were held in Sater, Sweden. Unfortunately I got a head cold a couple of days before I left and it affected my breathing. I didn't really let it get to me and still really enjoyed the experience. I finished 10th in the 20-24 age group in a time of 7:05 for the (4/120/30) race.
Another highlight is qualifying and completing the famous Hawaii Ironman. I qualified at the 2000 NZ Ironman when I came in 74th overall and 7th in the 18-24 age-group. I headed off to Kona in October 2000 with Melanie 7 months pregnant with Holly. I had big problems with my nutrition and was not really prepared for the heat of the race. I really struggled and lost a lot of weight through dehydration. I walked for most of the marathon and vomited a few times. I managed to guts it out and finish in 12:21 with a 5:11 marathon. They put me on an IV drip at the end but I didn't care because I achieved such a big goal and was one of my best experiences despite having a really bad race.
Having children and trying to establish a work career meant that I put my long distance triathlon career on hold due to the amount of time and money involved. I kept up my running which was my favourite of the three sports even though I wasn't the fastest. I ran for the Scottish Harriers running club in New Zealand and had a great time on various training runs and races including, road, track, off-road, cross country, hills, I loved it all.
My PB's for running are:
1500m - 5:02
5km - 17:23
10km - 37:11
21.1km - 1:20:40
42.2km - 2:58:28 (slowest of 6 is 3:02:42)
I have competed in many other events and only won two minor races; 1. a small aquathon in Petone 200m/1km/200m/1km and 2. the NZ Police duathlon champs in Wanaka.
I have never had a DNF in any race and now I need to move to the next chapter in my running story, Ultra's. I entered the Northface 100km run in 2010 but withdrew my entry a few months before because of work committments and the amount it was going to cost me. I had about 7 weeks off running this year due to issues at work and a loss of motivation but now I am back and am going to work hard to achieve my goals and my desire to become an ultra-runner. I am not sure what races I want to enter yet but typical of me I have very lofty ambitions and would like to complete such events as the Glasshouse 100 in QLD, the Western States 100 in California, the Marathon Des Sables in Marocco and even Badwater in Death Valley. It will take me a long time to get there but it is something I dream about alot (and have done so for a long time). Life is for living and celebrating and I want to challenge myself so that I can experience the satisfaction of pushing myself to see what I am made of.
Watch this space.
