Warriner back in winners circle

Kiwi Triathlete Sam Warriner was back to her best in winning the New Orleans 70.3 (half Ironman) in Louisiana in the early hours of this morning while in the men’s race Terenzo Bozzone finished second behind Andy Potts, with Graham O’Grady in seventh.

It was just the second race for Warriner since suffering a broken wrist at the Takapuna round of the Contact Tri Series back in February but the Whangarei triathlete won despite still showing some signs of the injury as she came out on top of a world class field.

Sam didn't have the ideal swim, with a combination of factors seeing her exit 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 predicted wind 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 second 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!”

Warriner still trailed by around 4 minutes heading out on to the 21km run but did not take long to get into her work and make ground on the leaders and was soon in front.

“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 like 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 men’s race Terenzo Bozzone clocked the fastest bike split of the day to be right in contention entering the 21km run but lost time to Potts and had to settle for second in another world class field.

Ironman 70.3
New Orleans
1.9km swim, 90km bike, 21km run
Pro Women
1 Sam Warriner NZL 4:16:44
2 Linsey Corbin USA 4:17:51
3 Amy Marsh USA 4:20:23
4 Meredith Kessler USA 4:22:06
5 Lauren Harrison USA 4:28:49

Pro Men
1 Andy Potts USA 3:43:44
2 Terenzo Bozzone NZL 3:47:17
3 Paul Amey GBR 3:49:52
4 Frederick Van Lierde BEL 3:50:19
5 Dirk Bockel LUX 3:54:02
Plus
7 Graham O’Grady NZL 3:58:10

Complete results and splits available at www.ironman.com