Multisport: Eleventh time the charm for ironman Barach

Brian Barach

It appears Whangarei athlete Brian Barach's ironman career has aged like a fine wine.

For the first time, and at his 11th attempt, the Whangarei Triathlon Club member has secured a podium finish in Ironman New Zealand.

Taking third place in the 65-69 age group at the recent event in Taupo, Barach finished the gruelling race with an overall time of 13 hours 20 minutes and 44 seconds. A windless morning greeted the 1250 athletes to a calm Lake Taupo for the 3.8km swim, which saw only one athlete miss the cutoff time of 2h 20m.

For the 180km cycle leg the wind got up with crosswinds making things tricky for some competitors, thus many failed to make the 5.30pm cut-off time for that stage.

Barach's time of 6 hours 46 minutes and 46 seconds gave him a fourth placing (65-69 category) on the bike stage prior to heading out on the 42.2km run.

The weather took a considerable turn for the worse with increasing high winds and driving rain during the run, making for an unpleasant leg of the race and particularly difficult conditions for those finishing near the midnight cutoff time.

Barach had the fastest run split of the day in the 65-69 age group although he maintained that "a marathon time of over 4 hours and 37 minutes is not great".

His daughter Polly also finished the race in a creditable time of 14 hours 23 minutes and 45 seconds. Other athletes from Whangarei to compete were Graham McDonald in eighth place (55-59 category), finishing in a time of 10h 56m 35s and Steve York who did a personal best in 12h 49m.

Debbie Small completed her first ironman, crossing the line in 13h 38m 18s.

Kaitaia GP Lance O'Sullivan completed in 14h 4m, as well as his Te Kohanga Whakaora colleague, Hinerangi Waikai, who finished in 15h.