Triple Peaks: Te Mata queen bounces back from bike crash

Carla Bywater, 27, of Hastings, crosses the finish line, as two-time winner of the women's Triple Peaks Challenge solo run champion today. Photo/Warren Buckland

Carla Bywater won her second Triple Peaks Challenge crown today but a lot of water has passed through the river crossings since she first won the Hawke's Bay adventure race in 2015.

Bywater, who was Carla Cameron when she crossed the line in 2015 but married in April last year, got a free entry to last year's challenge but a bike crash put paid to her campaign to defend her women's solo run title.

"I was knocked off my bike on 17th of December, 2015, so that means I was not able to compete and off work for six months last year," says the 27-year-old physiotherapist at Optimise Physio in Hastings. She was speaking after stopping the clock today at 4hr 29m 43s to regain her peak supremacy, albeit three times around the Te Mata Peak circuit after the threat of flooding river crossings to Mt Erin and Mt Kahuranaki due to rain.

"Today was my first run back so it was a big deal for me to finish that," said the South African-born, from the Garden route on the Cape coast, who emigrated to the Bay 13 years ago.

She had completed a training ride around the Tukituki Loop, in preparation a week before the Rotorua Half-Ironman, when she was knocked off her bike as she headed for Hastings after dropping off a fellow rider at the village.

"I fractured my left hand and got several stitches to my knee but I also had a really bad concussion so that's what kept me away from work for six months."

The former Havelock North High School pupil found the rear end of Te Mata Peak very slippery today although she landed on her backside a few times even on the flat but relieved no one saw her.

"I basically had to crawl up because you could not walk up or you'd have been sliding down," she said, juxtaposing that with hot and dry conditions in 2015.

Christine Lear, of Gisborne, was second in a time of 4:46:03 while Brona Turley, 19, of Havelock North, who heads off to Australia soon for her OE, was third in 4:51:11.

Bywater came away today with some "mental toughness" but also cherished support from a group of three-male team relay runners - Clint Wright, Jeff Curran and Spencer Bartlett, of Nfinite Fitness Trio - who kept encouraging her to soldier on despite the trying conditions.

"It was also good encouragement from other competitors, volunteers and marshals to carry on," she said, alluding to 2015 when it got a little lonely when an athlete often didn't come across someone for lengthy spells between the three peaks.

"Today's race was much more sociable and much better."

Bywater said while her time was 5h 2m in 2015 she thought today's distance might have been shorter even though organisers said the 3 x 16km loop made it a kilometre longer than the three-peak circuit.

"I'm not sure if they calculated it correctly because I had my GPS watch on so please check with the officials," she said although factoring in the possibility of crossing rivers might eat up more time than going around one peak three times.

Bywater picked up running while attending Otago University, taming the trails before entering a few half-marathons and the Hawke's Bay Trail Series.

"It was my stress relief. I just enjoy it because it's time out and good for my mental health," she said, entering the 2015 Triple Peaks just to say she had done it.

She isn't the type to pre-plan her next event but gauging how she feels before committing.

What will she do to celebrate tonight?

"I'm going to be babysitting my nieces. I'm going to the prizegiving this afternoon and then just relax, have a bath and watch a few movies, maybe."