Taupō Ironman 70.3 entrant Brittney Litton, pictured with children Max and Tilly, has qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Taupō which were scheduled for November. Photo / Supplied
Taupō Ironman 70.3 entrant Brittney Litton, pictured with children Max and Tilly, has qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Taupō which were scheduled for November. Photo / Supplied
Taupō triathletes who have qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in Taupō are hoping that the event, which has been postponed from November this year to March 2021, will still go ahead.
Due to Covid-19, Ironman have signalled Taupō will host the Ironman 70.3 World Championship in early 2021.
In a statement on their website, Ironman says it is continuing to work with all stakeholders to secure a new race date for early 2021 and updates on a decision will be shared as soon as possible.
Originally the event was scheduled for November 2020 and rescheduling for November 2021 is not an option as Utah is hosting the Ironman 70.3 World Championships at that time.
Taupō District Council district events manager Steve Giles said the New Zealand border being open was critical as 90 per cent of the athletes are coming from overseas.
"I am thoroughly excited that we are still discussing postponement and not cancellation," said Steve.
GOLOCAL
Taupō entrant Brittney Litton, 30, qualified for the Ironman 70.3 world championships after doing Ironman 70.3 in Taupō last December. No stranger to Ironman events, Brittney has done two full Ironman and four 70.3 Ironman.
She says she was very excited when she first qualified,
"I finished the race and was thinking 's**t I was way too slow'. I was 14th in my age group [25-29 female]. Then I went to the prize giving and ended up getting a roll-down spot which was lucky."
Brittney then went onto compete in Ironman 70.3 Taupō in March this year.
She says having the event possibly moved to March 2021 will be a good incentive to keep training over the summer months.
"Although if it goes ahead in March 2021 it may just be Aussies and Kiwis."
During lockdown she managed a lot of training, in between trying to work full-time and look after children Max, 4, and Tilly, 2. Just before lockdown she signed up to Zwift, a virtual cycling app and says she has been cycling indoors every day and doing gym work. However swimming was impossible and running was neglected.
She says the world champs, scheduled for November 28 and 29, were so far away she hadn't time to get properly excited before hearing it was postponed.
"It's a huge shame for the town to have uncertainty around whether the event will eventually go ahead or not," said Brittney.
Taupō elite triathlete Sam Warriner has won Ironman 70.3 seven times, competing all over the globe. She said it was incredibly satisfying to qualify at Ironman 70.3 Nice for the World Championship in Taupō.
Sam Warriner says there is no place better to compete than at home. She is pictured at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Nice, France.
"There is no place better to race than at home, let alone racing in my home town," said Sam.
She is disappointed about the postponement, but the professional coach also says the delay means athletes have more time to train, more time to become stronger, and more time to qualify.
"It's a positive, once you are in the right head space. And [being in the right head space,] that's what athletes do," said Sam.
She said New Zealand's success in dealing with the coronavirus had been widely covered by CNN and this would play out to be great for New Zealand tourism.
"The image portrayed is that New Zealand is a safe place and athletes will want to come to Ironman 70.3 World Championship Taupō.
"When I qualified at Nice the other athletes were saying 'wow, we can't wait to come to New Zealand'."
Fact finding mission to the 2019 Ironman 70.3 World Championships Nice, France. Taupō mayor David Trewavas (left) with the King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa (right).
Sam says Ironman 70.3 World Championship Taupō is viewed as a destination race, and after the race athletes will want to travel throughout New Zealand.
Taupō triathlete and Hoka One One events and athlete manager Fleur Bromley qualified for the World Championship in the December and March Taupō Ironman events.
During lockdown for Covid-19 alert levels three and four, Fleur was out training, tag teaming looking after the kids with her husband who was home during this time.
"Normally he is away travelling for work, plus we had an Indian summer. We took the opportunity to train during lockdown."
Fleur says she felt lucky to be living in Taupō during lockdown, as the trails were close enough to run to. She said the roads were brilliant for biking, as there was so little traffic.
"It was the safest I ever felt on the roads," she said.
Fleur Bromley qualifying for the Ironman 70.3 World Champs in Taupō. Photo / Supplied
Far from being disappointed about the World Championship being delayed, Fleur said it was nice to be able to train without the pressure of racing.
"Last summer was really busy with a lot of racing. I am using this time to do some decent mileage and build up my strength," said Fleur.
With uncertainty around when Taupō will host the Ironman 70.3 World Championship, Fleur says she really hopes Taupō gets the full international event.
"All the work that has been done. The work on the Lion's Walk is looking amazing right now. It would be a shame to not be able to showcase Taupō as the home of Ironman in New Zealand to international athletes."
