Just over a minute separated Mount Maunganui triathlete Janine Sax and a slice of the prizemoney pie at the Ironman 70.3 Asia-Pacific Championships in Phuket, although the 30-year-old former real estate agent was bullish about her race.
Seventh out of the 2km swim in 27min53sec, Sax was cut off bythe pro male triathletes on the run down to the beach and was last to hit the water.
"Because I was moving faster than the pros at the back I couldn't find any good feet to sit on and ended up swimming solo for most of the 2km. I used more energy than what I would have liked."
A slick transition saw Sax holding fifth by the 50km mark on the bike and she got a shock to see six times Kona Ironman champion Natasha Badmann (Switzerland) and multiple Ironman champion Belinda Granger (Australia) pass her on the 90km bike leg. "I would have thought this calibre of athlete would have been well ahead of me by this stage."
During the bike there was a torrential downpour, with many of the roads completely flooded. "I lost time on the hills because I did not want to come off my bike like I did earlier in the week (during a training ride)."
Sax finished the cycle leg in sixth, tearing open her transition bag with her hands when she couldn't get it off the rack or open it. She ran a 1:34.57 half marathon on a course laden with mud and potholes filled with water, finishing in 4:42.57, a minute behind Granger, with Australia's Melissa Rollison winning in 4:17.01.
"I was one place off the US$75,000 prizemoney and while it was a tough race I was happy to better my 12th seed starting position and keep inside the top-10 of another strong pro field."
