What can I say - just awesome!! I couldn’t have asked for more from my first “half-iron” distance race. Spectacular scenery, tip-top organization, fantastic support, glorious weather, and a great course - challenging but not killer.
The Challenge Series have run a full distance race in Wanaka for the last 2 years. This year they introduced a half-distance race to run alongside. As I was in New Zealand visiting family, there was no way I was going to miss it.
My race went pretty much to plan. My dream time was 5 hrs 30 mins. I wanted to be on the bike within 45 mins and was almost spot on, completing the swim and T1 in 45:46. The water was cold at 13.6oC but it was crystal clear and I never noticed the temperature. I did however wear a neoprene cap and booties (HTFU!).
My goal for the bike was 3:00 hrs and I made it (+T2) in 3:06:03, which was great considering the route was hillier and windier than I expected. My nutrition plan worked fine and I felt good getting off the bike.
Both my transitions were excellent, not sure what a lot of others were doing to take so long. Maybe that’s the benefit of doing sprints all of last season. I was hoping for a 1:45 half-marathon, so finishing the run in 1:49:02 was not bad considering most of it was on gravel. This gave me an official time of 5:40:51.
Can’t wait for the next race! Bring on the Swashbuckler!
Overall Result: 05:40:51 (78th out of 131)
Swim (1.9k): 42:16 (122nd)
T1: 3:30 (26th)
Bike (90k): 03:04:22 (88th)
T2: 1:41 (19th=)
Run (21k): 01:49:02 (66th)
A great day, perfect weather and a fast course. Finished just under 1:29; my target was sub-1:30 so very happy. The thing they warn you about on this course is not to start out too fast, so guess what I did!!
