Former Matamata man shows mettle at Ironman
‘‘Finding the tipping point and knowing the full potential of my body I find really interesting. Being fit is fine, but being fast is fun.’’
Record race day temperatures didn’t hold back a former Matamata resident.
Mike Wright completed his first international full Ironman, the Kona Triathlon World Champs, on October 10 in the heat of 48 degrees.
At the Hawaii-based event he said the 3.86 km swim ‘‘was just chaos’’.
As the field of swimmers never thinned out, he spent the whole swim ‘‘climbing over people and being kicked and punched’’.
He said he was glad to get off the bike after 180 kilometres.
He said he struggled in the second half of the 42.195 km run with the heat.
Jan Frodeno won the race in a time of 8 hours and 14 minutes.
Wright was happy with his time of 10 hours, 23 minutes ‘‘as a rookie effort’’ in that heat.
Wright, whose family are all part of the Matamata Peddlers so he rides for them when he can, has been competing in triathlons for three to four years.
Kona was his fourth full Ironman, the other three were Ironman NZ in Taupo.
He has completed roughly 10 half Ironman events also.
Wright enjoyed the strategy and detailed planning involved in triathlon, ‘‘where pacing and fuelling add up, and where even the best can fall apart at any stage.’’
He said as fitness improves, the body is able to handle more.
‘‘Finding the tipping point and knowing the full potential of my body I find really interesting. Being fit is fine, but being fast is fun.’’
He trains six to seven days a week, for a total of 12-20 hours.
The 10-12 sessions are split across swimming, biking, running and the gym.
Swim sessions are usually between two to six km.
Bike sessions between one and five-and-ahalf-hours, racking up 30km to 160km or more.
Run sessions can be anywhere from 30 minutes to almost three hours.
Wright benefited from the down’.
‘‘For my age group (30-34) there were three slots. I finished fifth in my age group, but two of the people ahead of me didn’t want their slots, so they roll down until the slots are filled.’’
‘Kona
roll