By CHRIS BRAMWELL in Taupo
For Rotorua and Taupo endurance athletes, the New Zealand Ironman triathlon on Saturday was a combination of realised dreams, battling the odds and settling old scores.
Rotorua was represented by 12 competitors including Ironman veteran Pam Dickson in her 14th race and first-timer Kevin Taikato who came home in 15hr 37m 20s.
Taupo had 63 competitors in the race.
After bitter disappointment last year when he suffered severe hypothermia in the 3.8km swim section, Taupo 68-year-old Neil Fleming crossed the finish line on Saturday to realise his dream of completing the gruelling event.
"I have settled the score now and I don't have any plans to attempt it again. I knew it was going to be hard. I am a strong runner, but having the swim and bike before were a great equaliser," he said.
Fleming's wife Jan and daughter Tania Milne were both working in the recovery tent. They were at the end to see him finish and were both visibly relieved. Fleming said the support from the thousands of people who lined the streets was amazing.
"All that support really helped. It was really encouraging and it didn't stop," he said.
Fleming was one of more than 1000 athletes who began at 7am and successfully completed the 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42km run by the midnight cut-off for official timing and placings. Japanese student Shintaro Oda came home a mere two minutes later to rapturous applause.
Against the odds, Fleur Bromley powered through the event in 10hr 51m 56s, winning her class and qualifying for the Hawaii Ironman.
Two days before the event Bromley was not even sure if she would be able to race. A suspected stress fracture in her left foot was causing her some trouble and it was not until 4pm on Friday that she was cleared to make the start line.
"I am so happy to have been able to race. The last two days were awful, not knowing after all the training I've done if I could even start," she said.
"My foot was hurting the last 15km of the run but overall it was not as bad as I thought it would be."
Bromley said the conditions were perfect and the crowd support was "just awesome".
"I wanted to thank them all, they were just going nuts for me", she said.
Last year Lynette and Treacle Warn were part of the crowd watching the event when they agreed to give it a go.
With no previous multisport experience, the determined couple trained for a year and were rapt on Saturday to complete the event - especially as Mrs Warn had taken ill after last week's Cross the Lake swim.
"I came right [on Friday] so I did it. The bike ride was really hard going for me as the cold air was making me cough, but I was determined to finish," she said.
Even though conditions on Saturday started out chilly, by the afternoon temperatures had warmed up to 26 degrees.
St John Ambulance area manager Graeme Harvey said the service was pretty quiet on the day compared with previous years.
"It went really well. I don't know if the athletes were better prepared this year but we just didn't seem to get the quantity that we got in previous years.
"Only nine people were transported to hospital as compared with 26 last year," he said.
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