Multisport: Warriner overcomes odds for ironman victory

Samantha Warriner of New Zealand crosses the finish line to win the 2011 Taupo Ironman. Photo / Getty Images

Barely three months after heart surgery, and in her first attempt at the discipline, former New Zealand Olympic triathlete Sam Warriner's luck held strong as she recorded a nine hours 28 minutes 24 seconds win in Ironman New Zealand today.

In hugely challenging conditions, soaked by heavy rain throughout the race, 40-year-old Warriner paced herself like an old hand to be among the pacesetters in the 3.8km swim before hitting the front early in the 180km cycle leg. She never relinquished the lead, digging deep to pound out a 42.2km marathon in 3hr 20min 52sec and secure the victory.

Second place went to world champion Mirinda Carfrae of Australia in 9hr 31min 33sec, with defending champion Jo Lawn third just 20 seconds astray.

Warriner still carried a faint air of disbelief about her as she fronted the post-race media conference, pointing out that it hadn't been that long ago that she'd struggled to run for any length of time.

"It's amazing, in November I thought there was something really wrong and that would be it for my triathlon career, because I just couldn't exercise for more than 20 minutes without my heart-rate going up to 230," Warriner said. "It was every time I trained, as well, not just once in a while."

So on December 1, Warriner underwent surgery, telling surgeons her next target was just three months away at the Taupo ironman. She went for her final checkup just 10 days ago - "I kept putting it off" - but with the blessing of her surgeons and with some quality training since her operation, Warriner had no fears in pushing herself to the limit today.

"I had the problem, but what they'd done ... it was an ablation, a very simple procedure and once it's done there's a 99 per cent success rate. So they were quite happy.

"Words can't express it -- when something like that happens, you're just happy to be on the start line. To win in New Zealand, is just a dream come true."

Warriner made her winning aspirations quite clear from the start, although Japan's Maki Nishiuchi led the field out of the water, stopping the watches at 50min 27sec for the swim. However, Warriner was just three seconds behind, with defending champion Lawn and world champion Carfrae a further 10 seconds back going into the first transition.

That gap lengthened rapidly as Warriner put her head down and attacked the cycle leg with venom, building up a 2min 30sec buffer on Lawn, Nishiuchi and Carfrae after 35km. She extended that further as the rain pelted down, and at the 80km mark held a 3min 30sec lead over Lawn and Carfrae.

It was shortly after that, however, that things turned to custard for seven-time Ironman New Zealand winner Lawn. A puncture on the outskirts of Taupo left her stranded on the side of the road, struggling desperately to pry her tyre free as the leaders powered away. In the space of 10km, she lost a good 15 minutes on the leaders, going through the 90km mark in 10th place, 18min 36sec down on Warriner.

Carfrae, who was four minutes behind Warriner at 90km, suffered a puncture shortly before the 130km mark, and plummeted down the field. Aucklander Belinda Harper, German Britta Martin and Australia's Kate Bevilaqua moved up to track Warriner, who by then had extended to lead to more than 9min.

Bevilaqua, who placed second behind Lawn here in 2008, continued her comeback after a frustrating series of stress fractures, pressing hard to go through the 150km mark in second, 8min 41sec down on the flying Warriner.

A long way back, Lawn and Carfrae went through 130km together, slowly winding back into their work as the cycle leg neared completion for the race leaders.

But while Lawn pressed on, Carfrae eased back and at the end of the cycle leg was nearly 23 minutes down on Warriner, whose 5hr 10min 39sec split maintained her a nine-minute lead over second-placed Bevilaqua coming out of transition. Harper and Martin went through third and fourth two minutes down on the Australian, and Lawn was fifth, a good 13 minutes astray of Warriner.

Lawn steadily improved as the race progressed, and by 13km had cut a further minute off the race leader. At 25km, she moved into second place, 8min 20sec down on Warrinder but with the added anxiety of keeping an eye on the fast-finishing Carfrae, with good cause as it turned out.

Carfrae, who set a 2hr 53min 32sec race record in winning the Hawaiian Ironman last year, sliced huge chunks of time off the leaders and reeled in the tiring Lawn at 36km before running the tank dry in an effort to hunt down Warriner. In the end, her 3hr 01min 06sec effort couldn't secure the miracle finish, and the gritty Australian was whisked away to the medical tent for recovery.

- NZPA