Inspiration from battered All Blacks captain Richie McCaw dragging himself off the Eden Park turf to lead his side to World Cup glory has boosted remarkable Te Puna triathlete Debbie Clark onto the podium at the ITU long distance world championships near Las Vegas.
Just home, Clark was one of eight Kiwis who won medals in the Nevada desert, overcoming the disappointment of the 4km swim leg being cancelled which turned the world champs into a 130km cycle/30km run time trial, with athletes starting at five-second intervals.
Although cold air temperatures were given as the reason for the lake swim being cancelled on race morning, Clark said the Kiwis would have completed the 4km without too many issues.
"Initially the call [to cancel the swim] was pretty unbelievable - I think I said 'you're joking' to the race officials about 10 times when the announcement was made because my swim leg's the one I'd put so much time into so there was a feeling of being a bit ripped off. It was so calm and so flat and we'd swum the course a couple of days before and it was 17 degrees.
"There were rumours that a bit of rain the day before we raced had put some sewage into the lake and the E. coli count was up but we'll never know."
Clark pumped out a 4:32:27 ride and 2:42:09 for the 30km run to finish in 7hrs 18min 11sec, half-an-hour behind German winner Gabriele Celette and 14 minutes shy of silver medallist Marijke Zeekant.
Her first taste of racing for New Zealand was magical, she said.
"I'm a very patriotic person anyway so being part of a New Zealand team was amazing, and all I could think of was Richie [and] that last five minutes of the World Cup when he dragged himself off the ground to hang on for victory. The last hill I ran up he was all I thought of."
The staggered start meant it was difficult getting a gauge on her race rivals, particularly after the ITU went away from normal convention and allowed the triathletes to wear extra layers on top of their race suits to ward off the chill.
"I put on my New Zealand cycle shirt and arm warmers, and some girls wore compression socks, making it impossible to see any race numbers and tell who was in your age group.
"The time trial start was in numerical order so at No972 I was near the back of the field and all I saw of the two girls that beat me was when I spoke to them in transition before the start. The Dutch lady's bike looked like something from outer space and they both took off like bats out of hell and I never saw them again until prizegiving.
"They were both so quick I doubt a swim would have made much difference to the finish order, and any disappointment before the race disappeared - I couldn't have been happier with my bike or my run."
Clark was overseas and missed entering Ironman NZ in Taupo next year for a second time, although she will compete in March's inaugural Ironman Melbourne, which is also the Asia-Pacific championships.
The former school teacher switches her attention to a veritable sprint this weekend when she lines up on the Auckland waterfront looking to qualify for the 2012 ITU world Olympic distance championships at the same venue next October.