Multisports: Warriner primed for rough-house triathlon

Sam Warriner

Sam Warriner knows who they are and she is ready for whatever they bring on the day, but just in case, she has been practising rough-house swim tactics to prepare for the first leg of the Commonwealth Games triathlon to be held at St Kilda on Saturday.

Not by accident either.

The outcome of the race is likely to be determined by the 1500m harbour swim, and Warriner has been busy preparing herself for what is likely to be a rugged competition in the water, with all the top women's contenders expected to battle to be part of a crucial lead bunch.

"We have been doing lots of three-people swimming in the one lane with people hitting you and getting tangled up.

"We do it often just to get used to the idea, because in a race it happens all the time.

"You just have to get on with it," Whangarei-based Warriner said.

It is just one of the fine tuning tactics the whole New Zealand triathlon team have adopted as they fine tune themselves for race day, and a training discipline they hope will help push Warriner and her team mates Dabbie Tanner and Andrea Hewitt into reckoning for the medals.

But yet again Warriner's biggest battle in the lead up to the race might be her own mental state.

Having established herself as the leading New Zealand woman, anchored a world ranking in the top 10 at No. 6, Warriner arrived at the Games Village on Tuesday night feeling surprisingly relaxed.

By the time she had been welcomed into the New Zealanders' section of the Village, an area they have dubbed "The Backyard" she suddenly found herself wound up.

"I am very nervous, I am uptight much more than I want to be,"she said. "I think it's being in the Village and getting the atmosphere of the whole place.

"I'm not good in these sorts of situations, I would rather hide away somewhere and just turn up for the race," she said.

"Everybody has made us feel very welcome, and it is awesome being part of the whole team thing, but it puts me on edge."

Warriner's nervous energy might not necessarily be a hindrance though.

The event is likely to be completed at a frenetic pace as the 40km cycle leg weaving through the streets of St Kilda is flat and the run on the esplanade almost entirely at sea level and likely to be similarly attacked at full pace by a talent laden field. So securing a fast start will be crucial.

A trio of Australians, spearheaded by race favorite Emma Snowsill and Annabel Luxford, are expected to work together in the swim in an effort to get away from the pack on the cycle leg.

Warriner has worked hard on her swim technique to try and stay in touch knowing that she has the cycle legs to keep pace. The plan is to then attack the run leg, her noted strength that saw her win two races on the international circuit last year.

Warriner has outrun both Snowsill and Luxford previously, but in a bunch start to the run there are any number of athletes, England's Andrea Whitcombe and Canadian Jill Savege included, who might threaten.

"I know who they are but at the end of the day I am going to focus on myself and I'm trying to relax, which I am not very good at," she said.

- NORTHERN ADVOCATE (WHANGAREI)