Dawn Picken: Lucky to try the triathlon

Kiri Kepa, pictured, died last month at age 51. Her daughter, Jasmin Kepa, travelled from Australia to race in the Generation Homes Women's Triathlon under her mum's name. Photo/File

It's 8am Sunday and my teeth are chattering. Clattering. They won't stop. A cold rain has blown in and I'm wondering if the best course isn't the race course, but going home.

I've signed up for the Generation Homes Women's Triathlon, an annual event that starts and ends at Mount Maunganui's Pilot Bay. More than 800 girls and women registered for the sixth iteration of the race. By now, some of us were wondering if this was a good idea after predictions emerged of a weekend cyclone that might affect the Bay.

During the pre-race briefing, the announcer mentions Kiri Kepa, a Rotorua woman registered to compete. I would later learn she died last month at age 51 of an abdominal aortic aneurysm after surviving breast cancer. Her daughter, Jasmin Kepa, travelled from Australia to race under her mum's name.

I think I might cry after hearing about the triathlon tribute, but my concentration is broken when a young woman wearing a grey swim cap asks, "Is this your first tri?" We're huddled under a marquee -me, my 15-year-old daughter, the inquiring stranger and dozens of others trying to escape the rain.

"This is our third triathlon together," I respond. Miss 15 and I started doing this race when she was 12. Back then, I waited for her, keeping at her pace during the cycle and the run. No holding hands as we crossed the finish line - my daughter would sprint ahead, telling everyone later, "I beat mum!"

I ask the stranger if she's from the Bay. No, West Auckland. She's with a group of about 60 women from a ladies'-only gym. Her name is Grace, she works for a suicide prevention hotline, and she learned to swim and to ride a bicycle especially for this event. "My co-worker pushed me on the bike up and down her driveway," she says. I guessed her age - late 20s. I didn't ask how she made it to adulthood without learning to cycle. We wish each other luck as Miss 15 and I leave the marquee to walk to the swim start. By now, rain has eased and we can see a peak of blue sky to the left of Mauao.

I think of Grace and Kiri as I enter water still (relatively) warm from a long, hot summer. How can I grouse about my weakest sport, swimming, when Grace and many other women on this course have just learned to propel their arms, flutter kick and breathe from the side? How can I complain about weather when Kiri, who started training for triathlons after her 2013 cancer diagnosis and completed the 160km Lake Taupo Cycle Challenge in 2017, would likely laugh off the rain?

The Bay holds a small chop during our 400m leg. Miss 15 says she swallowed water. "I threw up a little during the swim." She waits for me in transition while we pull on shoes and helmets for the 10km cycle, but abandons her vigil after my cold hands prove useless. A pin on my race number has come loose. Fumbly fingers can't close it. A new stranger comes to the rescue, pinning the bib and buckling my sports watch.

The women's tri attracts everyone from beginners to elite athletes - the winner, Charli Miller, finished in 40:47. The last finisher took around two hours (1:55:45) to cross the line.

The 4km run will bring us home. My feet feel numb as I dismount the bike and start shuffling. My size 10.5 behemoths behave like ice blocks. What should be my strongest event becomes a slog to Mount Drury and back. Halfway through the run, I spot Miss 15 running towards me, strong and smiling, despite a bruised hand following a fall on her skateboard two days earlier.

My teenager crushes my time by three minutes.

We see Grace, from Auckland, striding to the finish. She looks happy. "Go, Grace!" I cheer.

Jasmin Kepa finished the race, too. I wish I'd have seen her. I know what happens when adrenaline meets emotion. It's cliché, but I bet her mum would be proud.

Kiri told the Rotorua Daily Post in 2015, "You have to make the most of life, because you just never know what could happen."

Making the most of life is something Kiri, Jasmin, Grace and hundreds of others in the sisterhood of sweat accomplished Sunday. Many of us will enter more events - not only in hopes of a better body or faster times, but to be inspired by winners, middle-of-the-packers, last place finishers, and those who wanted to compete, but didn't get the chance.

Read about Kiri Kepa:

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503438&objectid=11390733
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/rotorua-daily-post/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=1503436&objectid=11946609