Sam Warriner takes out fifth Kinloch Triathlon title

Sam Warriner romped home to her fifth Kinloch Triathlon title just five months after giving birth to her second daughter. Photo/Instagram

Sam Warriner has shown she is still one of the premier triathletes in the country with her fifth Kinloch Triathlon and Erin Baker title.

The 45-year-old showed up and coming athletes that being successful was all about training cleverly and that age was no barrier on success at national level.

She said her young family had affected her training, but she made sure when she was training that she was training smart.

"With two daughters, it's a real balancing act between training and parenting," she said.

"It's tough. When I can train, I work hard. It's a good lesson for young athletes to learn that when you train, you need to do your best," Warriner said.

"Rosie and Lola [her daughters] are the most important thing to me so if I can't train, I won't."

Warriner swims twice a week if she's lucky, gets out for maybe one or two rides a week and runs when she can.

She ran a time of 2:00:20 at Taupo to secure her fifth Kinloch title, nearly two minutes in front of her nearest rival Rebecca Elliot.

Warriner said she was really happy with her performance and the level of competition around her.

"I was very happy with my performance. As you get older it gets tougher but I carried out a good race plan," she said.

"The athlete level was good. Being a national series race, there was always going to be some good competitors out there."

"Annika Pfitzinger, Rebecca Elliot and Ashleigh Williams were all racing, and they're some of the best emerging talent in the country."

Warriner runs a coaching group called Sweat7, which stands for Sam Warriner - Energy, attitude, training, seven days a week.

She said she was loving her role with Sweat7.

"I love my team and the athletes. We are really team-oriented and I'm always looking to inspire the next generation of athletes coming through," Warriner said.

"When they're out there on the course, just cheering them on and giving them advice is more important to me than anything else."

Next on the agenda for Warriner is the Masters Games as she looks to add to her ever-lengthening list of accolades.

"The World Masters is next up and it would be nice to add that to the list. The race is Olympic-style so it makes balancing the balls of training and family a lot easier," she said.

"Still, I've got to be wary of my age as I train for it. You can't train as much as you get older so you've got to respect the body."