Knocked-off work at lunchtime today and met up with Murray Heatherington (who I acted as support for during the Ironman earlier this year) to travel down to Taupo for Saturday’s Half Ironman which he is also competing in (along with Russell Stephens and Sam Walsh).  

We arrived in Taupo mid-afternoon went for a swim in the lake before collecting our race number and racking our bikes in the transition area.

We’re staying in a rented house that Russell has used several times before which is a few hundred meters from the turn-around-point of the run course at Rainbow Drive. The rest of the day was given over to sorting out last minute bits and pieces and cooking supper and resting-up (as they say, if you can sit down then sit down, if you can lie down then lie down).

On Saturday we all get up at an at uncomfortably early 04.00 to eat scrambled egg on toast for me, a coffee, a banana and a pint of water) before leaving at 05.15. First task is to set-up kit and nutrition in the transition area and then change into wetsuits for the 06.30 start of the swim.

The weather is as good as could be wished for , there is next to no wind (which means a ‘flat’ lake and no headwind on the cycle) the air temperature is warmish with periodic light drizzle punctuated by sunny spells.

The event, my 4th Half Ironman, goes well, I completed the 1.9km swim in 42mins. The 90km cycle in 3hrs 6mins and the 21km run in about 1hr 50mins. Total time (including transitions) was 5hrs 45mins. Murray (the flying pretzel as we’ve renamed him) finished in 5hrs 15mins, Russell, the veteran, in 6hrs 30mins and Sam Walsh (in his first Triathlon and at completely inappropriate for endurance sport 6ft 7in and 110Kg ) 8hrs 30mins. We all agree that Sam’s achievement is probably the most noteworthy of the day.  Sam swears he will never do an other Half Ironman and has a strange gait after the event.

In the evening we pop down the ‘Jolly Good Fellow’ bar which is run by a Darren from Abergavenny a great bloke and host but, rather oddly, the only man in New Zealand with matching valley-boy earrings. The evening ends with a welcome early night!