Amateur triathlete inspires herself and others

Sarah and Martin.

No one would call either of us athletes. Ever. However we both enjoy staying active and trying out various new activities.

On Sunday, Sarah competed in her first triathlon.

Years ago, she did take part in a team triathlon and did a terrible job as the team swimmer. Think beached whale and you've got the right sort of mental image.

Not just because she was a larger lady at the time but also because of her unusual swimming attire. The event was being in held in a lake in Rotorua in winter, and when the pilot of the local rescue helicopter heard that Sarah was planning to do the swim in just togs, he kindly volunteered to lend her a full wetsuit.

He didn't bother to tell her it was a rescue wetsuit designed for maximum flotation and Sarah didn't bother to try it out before race day so ended up swimming in a very weird style with her butt higher in the water than her head and much flailing of the arms.

Fast forward eight years with no serious swimming in between and Sarah committed to doing her first full triathlon with only a week's notice.

A little traumatised by her last competitive swimming event, she decided it would be prudent to head down to Ocean Spa for some practise.

After swimming two lengths of the lap pool she was fairly stuffed but feeling good about completing 100m without stopping.

However, she then found out that the Ocean Spa pool is not 50m long but 25m so she'd only gone quarter of the distance she would have to cover on Sunday!

A few more practise swims were needed but by the time the race rocked around she was feeling confident and managed to complete the swim at Pandora pond, followed by a 7km cycle and 2km run. For most triathletes, that distance would be a sprint but for Sarah it felt more like a marathon.

She didn't come first but she didn't come last either and even if she had, the point was to complete it and afterwards aside from a small amount of chaffing, she felt great!

She's already planning her next one later this month and in the meantime has pledged to work on her tan so people don't reach for their sunglasses as soon as she bares her legs.