What a great day!!!
I cannot say enough about the crowd support in Taupo. It is a small town but you would have thought all of New Zealand came out to cheer just for you. This was despite cool temps, heavy rain at times, and on/off windy conditions. I believe the people of Taupo are what make this race so successful. Thank you to them and all the great volunteers. You must go and experience this whole scene.
The bike and run are NOT flat. The start of the bike is hilly for several kilometers and coming back toward town it is hilly again (2% to 6% for about 6k. In between these areas you can put the hammer down. The roads are about 90% rough (chip seal) but you get fairly used to it. The run has several hills that in a stand alone marathon would not be bad. After 180k on the bike, the hills on the run seemed HUGE at times.
If you do this race in the future, go with Ken Glah’s group (Endurance Sports Travel). You are with a group of like minded athletes (and spouses) and every need is taken care of. Plus, Ken is a nice guy and has a boatload of knowledge about this course and IM distance in general.
I will definitely do this race again.
Sounds great. I am hoping to do it with a group of friends in 2010.
Where did you stay and was that part of what Ken arranged for you?
If you were going with 5 or 6 others is it easy to rent a condo or house?
Anyone else have any suggestions?
Now you understand why some of us have been there 5 times! Fantastic place and fantasic people.
clm
Here is an image i didn’t use on my site;
The roads certainly look pretty smooth above. The roads were only really rough in a few spots on ‘Challenge Wanaka’. It is a tougher course and Chris macDonald did it in 4hr 45mins. But it was the headwind that slowed people in Wanaka more than the road surface(i have ridden worse).
www.TriathlonShots.com
you said:
“and fantastic to be on your site in a decent resolution”.
But the images of IMNZ 2009 have been made really small. The resolution of them is o.k for the size but they are supposed to be a bit crappy; that is so people look at the subscription option.
Well a few people can see the big images already and anyone who ever bought something off me will get a password.
The images were taken under a contract for my site and they are pretty good.
I am doing ‘Challenge Roth’ in July and am looking forward to the fast course and the smooth road. All going to plan will be the fittest for that distance that I ever have been.
Am considering doing IMNZ in 2010 myself but first i want to go faster, so that a Kona spot maybe possible.
G.