Well, I didn't do IMNZ this year and thank god for that! What a horrible day.
The swim was about as wet for the spectators as it was for the competitors. Solid rain. Not lashing, but not drizzling either. Just good old, constant rain. Spectators quickly scurried into every available cafe and food outlet to seek cover.
Back out into the rain to watch the bike start. Still raining, but with increasing intensity. There were less crashes on the corners in town, so I suspect they got better warning than in previous wet years. Taupo has a new bypass onthe outskirts of town so the roads in the central area were able to be closed down. This seemed to help with allowing more room for competitors to get their bike legs without crashing at kilometer 0.5.
It rained the whole time of the bike, but thankfully very little wind to speak of. What wind there was, was from the north. This is the ideal direction for this arguably N-S double out and back bike course. There is a long gentle downhill near the beginning or each loop and that wouldn't have been much fun in the rain and slight headwind. I couldn't believe how many riders weren't wearing or even carrying eye protection/sunnies. That must have been a nightmare.
About noon, me and a fellow past IMNZ competitor thought better of it and hit a pub on the sidelines. Unfortunately, we sheltered under a beer umbrella, wearing goretex jackets and holding secondary umbrellas, we still got soaked to the bone. Our feet were in 2" deep puddles/water running down the sidewalk! FARK!!!!
The rain slowed to drizzle, but only long enough to raise hour hopes. Then, you guessed it, back to rain. WTF????
The run was constantly in the rain with me and my buddy cheering on pro's and friends. Not just to be good spectators, but to try and generate some heat in the cold rain.
Cameron Brown romped away with the win as expected. We predicted this starting about 1/2 way on the bike when he was only about 2 min out of the lead. Once on the run there was never any doubt. There was no-one near Cams running prowess in the race so he just smashed out another fast marathon to pull away from the crowd of hopefuls in the ever increasing distance. He didn't set a record but he was never pushed, so not a surprise.
In the womens race, it was another story. Coming off the bike, it was surprising not to see Jo Lawn (perenial womans winner) in or near the lead. Sam Warriner, stepping up from ITU racing, to 70.3 and now the full distance event, had a good lead. What was up? Jo had flatted and took over 20 minutes to change her tire. Why pro's still race on tubbies I will never know. Just the other day on my commute to work, I had a flat rear tire. I had to remove panniers etc, and change the tire in the dark (early morning commute for me). Taking my time to do it right the first time, I still managed to be back on my bike in 6:40 and that's using a pump, not CO2. If Jo had clinchers, she would have saved about 15 minutes and WON the race. She didn't lose the race because she flatted, she lost the race because she couldn't remove a tubbie. To me, that is just plain embarrassing. Yeah I know it was cold and wet, but it was cold and wet for my early moring tire change too. She trains the swim, trains on the bike and running too. She probably even practices transitions to be as fast as possible. To NOT practice changing tires and other basic maintenance that can easily be done on the side of the road is just not acceptable IMHO. She should consider herself lucky that she hasn't flatted in any of her previous races. She closed the gap to Sam Warriner but Sam paced herself perfectly to win by enough that it wasn't in doubt, but didn't work any harder than she actually needed to. Congratulation to her on her first win in what I think is her first IM. Well done Sam.
I watched my pro and amateur friends finish, but didn't stay to the end. It was just too miserable for that. Thanks to sitting in a pub all day (we snuck inside during the run leg) I woke with a roaring hangover. Not ideal but better than a week of post IM shuffle. I don't feel as good about myself however, so might have to enter something soon to prove I'm still worthy. :-)
Congrats to everyone who even started the race.Double congrats to those that finished. I heard rumour they had their lowest finishing percentage ever, with 58 (I think) DNF's this year.
TriDork
"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"
The swim was about as wet for the spectators as it was for the competitors. Solid rain. Not lashing, but not drizzling either. Just good old, constant rain. Spectators quickly scurried into every available cafe and food outlet to seek cover.
Back out into the rain to watch the bike start. Still raining, but with increasing intensity. There were less crashes on the corners in town, so I suspect they got better warning than in previous wet years. Taupo has a new bypass onthe outskirts of town so the roads in the central area were able to be closed down. This seemed to help with allowing more room for competitors to get their bike legs without crashing at kilometer 0.5.
It rained the whole time of the bike, but thankfully very little wind to speak of. What wind there was, was from the north. This is the ideal direction for this arguably N-S double out and back bike course. There is a long gentle downhill near the beginning or each loop and that wouldn't have been much fun in the rain and slight headwind. I couldn't believe how many riders weren't wearing or even carrying eye protection/sunnies. That must have been a nightmare.
About noon, me and a fellow past IMNZ competitor thought better of it and hit a pub on the sidelines. Unfortunately, we sheltered under a beer umbrella, wearing goretex jackets and holding secondary umbrellas, we still got soaked to the bone. Our feet were in 2" deep puddles/water running down the sidewalk! FARK!!!!
The rain slowed to drizzle, but only long enough to raise hour hopes. Then, you guessed it, back to rain. WTF????
The run was constantly in the rain with me and my buddy cheering on pro's and friends. Not just to be good spectators, but to try and generate some heat in the cold rain.
Cameron Brown romped away with the win as expected. We predicted this starting about 1/2 way on the bike when he was only about 2 min out of the lead. Once on the run there was never any doubt. There was no-one near Cams running prowess in the race so he just smashed out another fast marathon to pull away from the crowd of hopefuls in the ever increasing distance. He didn't set a record but he was never pushed, so not a surprise.
In the womens race, it was another story. Coming off the bike, it was surprising not to see Jo Lawn (perenial womans winner) in or near the lead. Sam Warriner, stepping up from ITU racing, to 70.3 and now the full distance event, had a good lead. What was up? Jo had flatted and took over 20 minutes to change her tire. Why pro's still race on tubbies I will never know. Just the other day on my commute to work, I had a flat rear tire. I had to remove panniers etc, and change the tire in the dark (early morning commute for me). Taking my time to do it right the first time, I still managed to be back on my bike in 6:40 and that's using a pump, not CO2. If Jo had clinchers, she would have saved about 15 minutes and WON the race. She didn't lose the race because she flatted, she lost the race because she couldn't remove a tubbie. To me, that is just plain embarrassing. Yeah I know it was cold and wet, but it was cold and wet for my early moring tire change too. She trains the swim, trains on the bike and running too. She probably even practices transitions to be as fast as possible. To NOT practice changing tires and other basic maintenance that can easily be done on the side of the road is just not acceptable IMHO. She should consider herself lucky that she hasn't flatted in any of her previous races. She closed the gap to Sam Warriner but Sam paced herself perfectly to win by enough that it wasn't in doubt, but didn't work any harder than she actually needed to. Congratulation to her on her first win in what I think is her first IM. Well done Sam.
I watched my pro and amateur friends finish, but didn't stay to the end. It was just too miserable for that. Thanks to sitting in a pub all day (we snuck inside during the run leg) I woke with a roaring hangover. Not ideal but better than a week of post IM shuffle. I don't feel as good about myself however, so might have to enter something soon to prove I'm still worthy. :-)
Congrats to everyone who even started the race.Double congrats to those that finished. I heard rumour they had their lowest finishing percentage ever, with 58 (I think) DNF's this year.
TriDork
"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"