Ironman: Lawn mows down the competition to claim seventh title

Jo Lawn celebrates winning the 2010 Ironman New Zealand. Photo / Getty Images

Ironman athletes battle all sorts of demons. They hurt so badly they want to cry or feel compelled to sit down and not go on. Some even hallucinate.

For Jo Lawn, though, the demons have been more evident than just during races.

Yesterday the 36-year-old not only won her seventh Ironman New Zealand, reclaiming the title she lost to Gina Crawford (nee Ferguson) last year, but also did it in a course record time of 9h 14m 35s.

She came seventh overall - with only six men ahead of her. That was despite a bustling wind - and despite a year of personal issues.

Lawn had a body image problem. She was so obsessed about her weight she hardly ate and ran away from sugar like it was chasing her. Ironman athletes can't operate like that. The sport is hard enough, even when you have fuel in the tank.

"A lot of females worry what they look like," she said. "That was part of the equation. But in Ironman you have to be strong. Ultimately, looks are nothing.

"You always want to be something you aren't and maybe for me it was my body image. I always worked hard and gave myself treats but deep down I knew I needed to put better food in. Now I follow my instinct. If I want KFC, I am going to have KFC, not a chicken roll. Otherwise, you're just pretending."

Lawn was able to pretend for so long because she kept winning in Taupo. Six titles sated her appetite. But a second-place last year, and a bout of major fatigue, forced her to look at her situation honestly.

"Ironman is a rough sport and you think that's the reason you feel like crap all the time," she said. "But you shouldn't feel like that all the time if you put the right nutrients in, rest and are healthy.

"It's a balance of everything and I was taking a couple of things for granted. You can't. Not in this game. You might be able to pretend for a couple of years but in the end it bites you.

"I didn't have a bad year [in 2009]. Many people would have been on top of the world if they had the year I had but for me it wasn't the year I wanted. I lost [Ironman] New Zealand.

"But I realise that sometimes you have to lose to win. Last year I lost and it made me look in the mirror and say, 'hey, what's wrong?' Something was wrong. I needed to change it."

She also made a significant change to her riding position by using a specially-designed mouthguard. It was found she had a crooked riding style because she clenched her teeth when riding under strain and the mouthguard helped line her up.

"Everything comes from the jaw," she explained, "like the boom of a boat. If the boom's not straight, the boat goes round in circles."

Lawn had a very good ride yesterday, although she started the run 30s behind three-time New Zealand time trial cycle champion and Olympic cyclist Melissa Holt. It wasn't enough of a gap for Holt to hold on and Lawn quickly took the lead.

Crawford tried to peg her back, at one stage closing the gap to two minutes, but Lawn strode away to win by a surprisingly comfortable 14 minutes. American Kim Loeffler was third, a further two minutes behind.

"It was a tough day out there," said Crawford, who battled with stomach cramps for the last 10kms on top of the fact she pulled a muscle in her toe two weeks earlier.

"You don't think a toe would be important but I couldn't even walk two weeks ago. Everyone has their own personal battles. I'm just glad I got to the finish because from the second half of the bike I felt really tired. I kept believing I would come right but I didn't."

Lawn has new energy after her twin discoveries last year. She's a rugged competitor - she refused to even look at Crawford in the week leading up to the event because she "meant business" - and knows how to dig deep.

Only she knows what that has meant in the past.