By MARTYN WATTERSON
Triumphant triathlete Joanna Lawn could have been forgiven had her thoughts strayed from yesterday's Ironman New Zealand to her wedding dance given her forthcoming nuptials next week.
But in a true sign of the mental toughness required to carry an athlete through the gruelling 3.8km swim, 180km cycle ride and 42km run event, Lawn's focus never wavered as she cleaned up the women's field in the 20th anniversary race in Taupo.
"I just stayed focused for the whole race. I couldn't remove myself from concentrating on the race," Lawn said after winning the race for the second successive year.
"It was tough out there but I couldn't slow myself down."
That approach paid handsomely for the Aucklander, who stayed in the leading bunch from the outset and never slipped back.
She finished the swim leg in fourth place, trailing the leader by one minute 23 seconds, but soon stamped her authority in the cycle leg to lead by just under 4min heading into the run.
Lawn's steely look of determination only intensified as the race wore on and she broke the finishing tape in 9hr 22min 24sec, 5min shy of her record breaking victory last year.
"There were girls in today's race, where if you lost your focus they could get me, so you just have to remain one step ahead of them and hope they fade while you don't," she said.
Far from fading, Lawn bolted in the final stages to finish more than 9min ahead of fellow Aucklander Lynley Allison and Tamara Kozulina, of the Ukraine, to cap a stunning result before she weds.
Lawn marries Armando Gallarraga, a Venezuelan age-group triathlete she met two years ago at Ironman Lake Placid, on Wednesday.
Regarding the timing of the wedding, Lawn said they decided to have the wedding soon after Ironman New Zealand because many of their friends came from around New Zealand and the world to support her "and it was unfair to ask people to stay for another week".
After yesterday's performance there's no doubting many of her supporters would be happy to stay for the month, let alone the week.
- NZPA
Ironman: Joanna Lawn defends NZ women's title
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