Deirdre Lack's remarkable return

Bizarrely, and in complete contrast to her fellow competitors, Deidre Lack is looking forward to post-competition aches and pains over the next few days.

After the past 12 months she's had, Te Puke's top cop will take whatever dull ache her muscles dish out after making her return to competition in yesterday's Eves Surfbreaker sprint triathlon at Mount Maunganui.

A year ago Lack nearly died in a horror head-on car smash just north of the township. She was trapped in the mangled wreck of her car for an hour and spent nine hours in surgery to mend the 17 bones she broke.

Lack spent two months in Tauranga Hospital, and despite being confined to a wheelchair, she was driven to the pool by her mother Robyn every day as part of her rehabilitation. She was back on her feet within a month.

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Te Puke senior sergeant Deirdre Lack gets a hug from her mum Robyn at the finish line. Photo: John Borren

Yesterday Lack signalled her recovery was almost compete, finishing as 13th female in the Surfbreaker in 1:07.02 - the second masters woman home.

Lack struggled a bit in the unseasonal surf during the 750m swim but settled into a nice rhythm on the bike (16km) and 5km run.

"It was just good to finish today and to get through it. I've done this race plenty of times, but today was the first time I wasn't worried about my time or where I was - I was chuffed to get to the end."

Lack felt great on the bike after getting out of the water but didn't enjoy the swell during the swim leg.

"My background's in swimming but I was feeling terrible when I got out of the water so I just paced myself from there."

With her first event now completed Lack is targeting the 10km Epic swim in Lake Taupo on January 14 before the Contact sprint distance national triathlon champs at Kinloch on February 5.