Wairarapa duo Sue Bankier and Gavin Champion did themselves proud when representing New Zealand at the recent world age group long distance triathlon championships in Perth. Bankier placed 15th out of 33 in the women's 45-49yrs age group while Champion finished 19 th out of 55 in the men's 40-44yrs event. ForBankier, however, there was the possibility of placing in the top 10 had she not had the misfortune to suffer valuable time loss , first through through a puncture and then a crash, in the 80km bike ride which followed a 3km swim. Bankier was, in fact, first out of the water in her age group from the swim but any advantage gained there was largely undone by the unfortunate happenings on her cycle ride which probably cost her about 20 minutes, not that she herself is keen to dwell on either incident. "Punctures and crashes are often part of these races and you just have to put them behind you and get on with it," she said. The final leg in Perth was a 20km run and with temperatures soaring past 30 degrees Bankier found it a hard slog and was "pretty happy" to make it to the finish line in an overall time of 5hrs 49mins 16secs.Her next major assignment will be the Tauranga Half-Ironman in January. Champion made steady improvement throughout his race, being placed 25th after the swim, 23rd after the cycle leg and then 19 th after the run, finishing in 4hrs 50mins 58secs. Like Bankier he found the heat the biggest problem with the effects of dehydration being felt by the end of the bike ride. "Looking back I probably didn't take in enough water but I was still feeling comfortable enough at the end," he said. Champion will compete in a half-ironman event in Taupo in a fortnight's time and will then return to that township in March for a full Ironman event which will involve a 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42km run.
