Warriner in form at Orleans 70.3
19 April 2010
Sam Warriner finally climbed back onto the winners podium early this morning in the city of New Orleans, Louisiana. Racing in the New Orleans 70.3 (Half Ironman) Sam didn't have the swim she'd of liked, a combination of factors led to her exiting the 1.9km swim just short of 5 minutes behind the leader American Dede Greisbauer.
"Initially I went to the wrong buoy on the swim, I know, what an amateur mistake, I chose not to swim the course the day before and regret it now!
I also think I'm still suffering a bit from the broken wrist, even though I have no pain anymore the swim was judged to be non-wet suit, because of the temperature of the water. A non wet suit swim requires a little more strength as you don't get that extra buoyancy from the wet suit and you have to glide a little more on the fore arm, and the pull is also a little harder, I could really feel it at the end of the swim, my left fore arm was aching quite a bit".
Out onto the bike and the expected winds didn't eventuate until halfway through the 90km flat cycle. But when they did finally arrive Sam's choice of a rear deep section rim instead of her usual carbon disc wheel began to pay off:
"A lot of the girls struggled during the 2nd half of the bike because they had disc wheels on their bikes and the wind got up a lot. Luckily I decided prior to the race not to use a disc and I think it paid off, the other girls looked to be fighting their bikes quite a bit".
"I did have another small drama on the bike - I didn't tighten my aero bars up enough and they came loose at about 25 km's?! So I had to ride mostly on the drops, I could get on the aero bars when it wasn't windy but as soon as the wind blew I had to be cautious. Yet another rookie error, to be fair I've been lucky to get away with things today!"
"There was still a considerable gap between myself and the leaders coming off the bike, I think around 4 minutes but I had a quick transition and immediately after exiting I passed one girl and got a time split from someone in the crowd that really ignited something in me!"
"I think I took the lead at about the 5 mile mark and never looked back after that. Once you're in that position you have to commit 100%, just lay your cards on the table and give it absolutely everything you have, that's what I did, and it paid off today".
"I'm so happy to get a good result, it feels I can re-start my season today. I've got some really exciting races coming up against some exciting competition, so things are looking up".
Sam will return to camp in San Diego tomorrow before contemplating her next race for the season.
"I feel I've finally got some choices ahead of me again, I'm excited about getting back to ITU racing, but need to make sure my wrist is ok as you just can't afford to be giving away that sort of time on the swim at ITU. There are also a lot of other races out there that excite me; St.Croix, Wildflower, Rev 3 to name just a few, I'm loving being based in the States and being so central to all these iconic events!"
In the mens race Kiwi Terenzo Bozzone powered through to second just four minutes behind winner Andy Potts, with anothere Kiwi Graham O'Grady 7th.
Men
1/. Andy Potts (USA) 3:43:44
2/. Terenzo Bozzone (NZL) 3:47:17
3/. Paul Amey (GBR) 3:49:52
4/. Frederik Van Lierde (BEL) 3:50-19
5/. Dirk Bockel (LUX) 3:54:02
6/. Ben Hoffman (USA) 3:56:28
7/. Graham O'Grady (NZL) 3:58:10
8/. Swen Sundberg (GER) 3:58:53
9/. Brandon Marsh (USA) 4:00:44
10/. Balaczs Csoke (?) 4:03:28
Women
1/. Sam Warriner (NZL) 4:16:44
2/. Linsey Corbin (USA) 4:17:55
3/. Amy Marsh (USA) 4:20:23
4/. Meredith Kessler (USA) 4:22:06
5/. Lauren Harrison (USA) 4:28:49
6/. Heather Jackson (USA) 4:29:36
7/. Dede Griesbauer (USA) 4:30:07
8/. Jacqui Gordon (RSA) 4:32:12
9/. Margaret Finley (USA) 4:35:34 * AG F35-39
10/. Anne Basso (FRA) 4:36:42
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