Foote keeps her cool to win in record time

Sonia Foote has little time to celebrate her gutsy Xterra off-road triathlon victory at the weekend.
After defending her 2004 women's title and setting a new course record of 2hrs 47mins 39secs following a calculated race over the 1km swim, 30km mountainbike and 11km trail run, the Rotorua-based molecular biologist is preparing to spend the next seven weeks blazing a trail on the European mountainbike circuit.
Foote leaves for Belgium on Wednesday to compete in the opening cross-country races of the World Mountainbike Cup Series in the lead up to October's UCI World Mountainbike Championships in Lavigno, Italy - the latter acting as a qualifying race for the 2006 Commonwealth Games.
"I'll be competing in races in Belgium, Spain and Germany and will do some racing - Swiss Cup, French Cup in between," Foote told the Daily Post. "Admittedly not much time to celebrate this [Xterra]."
However, at least the effervescent athlete will have a long-haul flight to reflect on her gallant race effort at Tikitapu (Blue Lake) on Saturday when she beat arguably the most competitive women's Xterra field ever.
Foote came out of the water in an ordinary time of 22mins 43secs, trailing Olympic triathletes Sam Warriner and Evelyn Williamson and Commonwealth Games triathlete Heather Evans, by a staggering eight minutes.
But Foote, who finished second in February's National Mountainbike cross-country champs, blitzed the challenging bike course to enter the bike/run transition in first place - three minutes over Williamson.
Roused by a large and vocal crowd, Foote kept her cool running two laps around Tikitapu and punched the air in delight as she won her second Xterra crown in as many years and qualified for the Xterra World Champs in Maui, Hawaii in October. Williamson finished second, Warriner third and Evans fourth.
"It was awesome, this event has such an amazing atmosphere and when I came out [of the swim] I had to give it death on the bike and slowly reel people in," Foote said. "There were heaps of people out there calling splits, which were really helpful, and when I got back off the bike into transition, it was the most amazing sight ever."
Following a six-month layoff since his emphatic gold medal triathlon performance at the Athens Olympic Games, Hamish Carter lead the mens event the whole way, finishing just outside his own race record in 2hrs 16mins 30secs.
Carter gave his supporters high fives as he ran into the finish chute - marking not only a return to race form but also sending a clear signal to New Zealand selectors that he wants one of the few spots available for the Melbourne Games in March next year.
"It was brilliant, it was really good, it was a really fun race and great to get into the swing of things and into racing again," Carter said.
"The first race back is always pretty tough, so do to a race like this is a bit more fun. I was a little bit slow on getting changed into each transition and there were patches where I lost concentration a little, but I am stoked - I did a lot better than I anticipated and I am really pleased."
Tauranga's Jon Hume finished second in 2hr 25min 47secs while Wellington's Sam Mallard took third and Taupo's Bryan Rhodes fourth in the pro-men class - all three suffering a flat tyre on the mountainbike leg.
In Saturday's other events, Rotorua's Rod Hill weaved his magic on the open men's 30km mountainbike race clocking a swift 1hr 18min 39secs, followed one-minute later by Paul Bishop and Wayne Hiscock. Fellow Sulphur City rider Peter Calnan won the male master 40+ class while Genevieve Whiston convincingly won the open womens grade in 1hr 36min 44s.
Race director Roger Mortimer said he was overwhelmed by Saturday's event, which attracted a combined 3000 entrants, and a large supportive crowd.
"It has been absolutely fantastic", Mortimer said. "I think we knew Rotorua was always going to be the home for Xterra and every year more and more people are getting out and supporting the event. To see Sonia win in front of her home-town was great and I know Hamish Carter always enjoys coming to train and race here, it's just awesome."