Triathlete Kieran Doe was hoping to find out how much his dreadlocks slowed him down. Instead of seeing how fast he could go on a hot day without them he was given a lesson in how much they weighed him down.
Heavy rain at Saturday's Rotorua Half-Ironman led to testing conditions for all, with some surely wishing they had kept their wetsuits on for the entire race.
Doe blitzed through the field, leading from start to finish but with the eye on the prize next month when he races at Challenge Wanaka more so than taking line honours at Blue Lake.
He finished in 4 hours 16 minutes and 17 seconds, some five minutes ahead of his nearest competitor.
"I raced exactly as I planned to," Doe, 30, said at the finish.
"It was a tough day. I came to this race as it's a similar course to Challenge Wanaka, a nice hilly bike and an off-road run. I rode at Ironman pace but I got off and felt flat on the run. I felt a bit sluggish all day but I didn't really rest up for this."
He said the weather didn't come into play too much and he wasn't sure how much time he gained by cutting off his famed dreadlocks.
"I think I'll notice the difference [without my dreadlocks] on a hot day but they usually got pretty heavy when wet. This weather takes the boredom away and adds to the excitement."
The race involved a 2km swim, 90km cycle to Lake Rotoma and back and a 21km run, including a lap out to the Lake Tarawera look-out.
The rain didn't start until competitors were on their bikes and lashed down as they returned to start their muddy run.
Results:
Half-Ironman: Men: Kieran Doe 4:16:17 1, Simon Cochrane 4:16:17 2, Matt Parsonage 4:22:50 3. Rotorua: Oliver Shaw 4:26:27, Lawrence Oldershaw 4:34:34, Andrew Hiscoke 4:35:05, Nathan Bennett 4:45:21, John Gray 5:00:59, Adam Marshment 5:02:03, Anton Bergs 5:02:53, Greg Scott 5:09:19, Matt Dalton 5:26:07, Grant Utteridge 5:41:39, Richard Newbury 6:02:28, Hamish Duncan 6:18:22, Aaron Gillions 6:54:55.
Women: Wendy Nicholls 5:07:24 1, Megan Arthur 5:15:56 2, Susan Horn 5:18:15 3. Rotorua: Leonie Smith 5:34:21.
Teams: Mixed: Team Anna 4:33:56 1, Isak Meyer 4:46:34 2, Goldenbirch 4:56:37 3. Men: Franklin Ladz 5:08:03 1, Tribe of 2 5:18:29 2, Duncan And Co Delicious Derrieres 5:26:01 3. Women: The Rats Executive Domination 4:53:41 1, Naughty & McNaughty 5:08:12 2, Pearson Pros 5:24:55 3.
Quarter-Ironman: Men: Grant Budd 2:25:41 1, Mike McCann 2:46:04 2, Craig Morrison 2:48:53 3. Women: Sue Galpin 2:41:30 1, Linda Van Uden 2:51:31 2, Natalie Irving 2:56:33 3. Rotorua: Mark Enright 3:03:40, David Massey 3:28:35. Teams: Team Manta Ray 2:34:22 1, Puke 3:02:03 2, Forever Hopeful 3:07:39 3.
