"Some people were planning on flying down on Sunday and thanks to the timely information they knew the event wasn't on."
With event organisers postponing to March 27, Nick said a month's delay was doable in terms of training, as he would switch from tapering off and go back to his early February training schedule.
"From a competitor's point of view it's all the annual leave that's been booked, all the accommodation that's been pre-paid."
On Saturday night, when the news broke, his knee-jerk reaction was to find another event so all the training could be put to good use. New Plymouth hosts the Kiwiman Xtreme Triathlon over Easter, with Nick saying the event is essentially a single or double ironman held over one or two days.
Hoping the rest of New Zealand will be in level 1 by March 27, Nick says it would be disappointing if Taupō's Ironman New Zealand went ahead and Auckland competitors couldn't take part because they were still in level 2.
"There is a bit of an Ironman community, and you would feel for those that couldn't take part."
Prohibitive cost was another factor for many competitors, with Nick saying many entrants have the mindset they will complete one Ironman event in their life, with many not being able to bear the cost of a second lot of accommodation and travel.
Maintaining a glass half full attitude is important for Nick, and he said Mike Reilly, aka The Voice of Ironman, summed it up really well when he posted on Sunday that all those hoping to take part in this year's Taupō Ironman event need to stay focused and not waver.
"For me, everything that has happened this year with Covid is part of the journey. In some ways it's been a weird 12 months. I have good days and bad days with my training, but I can choose how to respond to that. The same goes with the news that Ironman 2021 isn't happening this Saturday, I can respond to that in a positive way or a negative way," said Nick.
Not one to dwell on what would have been, come Saturday 6am, Nick says he has support from his wife Rachel Hume to do another month's training and expects to be out doing a 180km training ride.
Aware that some competitors may struggle to get to Ironman due to financial loss from Covid-19 alert level changes, Nick is asking the Taupō community to put their hand up if they can host a competitor who is having difficulty paying for a second lot of accommodation. If you can help, email Nick at nickh@bfa.co.nz.
Ironman New Zealand director of volunteers Felicity Cantwell said the team was working very hard in a difficult situation. Felicity spent all day Sunday putting together the volunteer packs, minus the food items, for the 1500 to 2000 volunteers who are integral to the whole event, just in case the event did eventuate.
Giving a few examples of the logistics involved, Felicity said she had to cancel an order for 30 trays of eggs (60 dozen), required as one of the fillings for the packed lunch made for the volunteers.
"Beaut Bakery has already made six out of 12 enormous slabs of banana cake for lunches. They had to go into the freezer yesterday."
She said this year, as in other years, there was overwhelming support from the community when it came to filling the volunteer positions.
Having completed two Ironman events herself, Felicity said the nail-biting wait to see whether the event will go ahead had happened in the past due to adverse weather conditions.
"We have been down this track before."
