Pro Women’s Field

When Hannah Wells lines up for her third Ironman 70.3 event of the season in Taupo¯ tomorrow, she’ll have her eye on another competitor.

That competitor is Radka Kahlefeldt, a Czech triathlete who returned to racing this year 11 weeks after having a child with a win at Ironman 70.3 Davao, Philippines. Since then, she has gone on to clock up wins at Ironman 70.3 Vietnam, Cebu and most recently, Western Sydney. She also placed fifth at the 2018 Ironman 70.3 World Championship in South Africa.

Kahlefeldt was the only athlete Wells came in behind at the Ironman 70.3 Western Sydney less than two weeks ago, finishing the half Ironman course of a 1.9km swim, 90km bike and a 21.1km run in four hours, 16 minutes and 44 seconds. Kahlefeldt finished just over four minutes ahead of the Bay athlete in four hours, 12 minutes and 25 seconds.

But Wells isn’t focused on beating Kahlefeldt. Instead, her focus is on her own improvement and she is keen to gauge that development by seeing how she goes against Kahlefeldt and comparing it to the Sydney event.

That Ironman 70.3 was on November 24 and Wells identified her weakness from that event as her swim. So, since then she had put more work in to that discipline.

She’s done one extra swim than normal but is preparing better and mimicking the race feeling while training.

Because she hasn’t had a lot of time in between races, training hasn’t been as intense as it usually is for such an event. Instead, she’s been taking it easier and recovering. She believes her body has recovered well but she Bib #20 Radka Kahlefeldt (Vodickova), 34, CZE

#21 Jocelyn McCauley, 30, USA #22 Laura Dennis, 23, AUS

#23 Hannah Wells, 27, NZL (Bay of Plenty)

#24 Rebecca Clarke, NZL (Auckland) #25 Courtney Gilfillan, AUS

#26 Karen Toulmin, NZL (Hawke’s Bay)

#27 Renee Kiley, 35, AUS

#29 Amanda Wilson, 34, AUS

said she wouldn’t really know until the race tomorrow.

“I haven’t really raced together,” Wells said.

She’s looking forward to tomorrow’s race — her first at home this season — and is expecting to have plenty of supporters cheering her on during the day.

The Taupo¯ course will take Wells and her fellow competitors on a 1.9km swim in Lake Taupo¯, the 90km bike so close through rural landscape and a 21.1km run taking in the picturesque lake.

She says Taupo¯ will have some road running which will be kinder on her body than straight concrete as it was in Sydney, and she’s expecting a few more hills, which she is looking forward to.

Although Wells is focusing on improving, a podium finish is an obvious goal.

She is unsure how she will go against American Jocelyn McCauley, a former age grouper turned pro who is also the 2017 Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain Ironman New Zealand champion.

“Jocelyn is a strong triathlete, I don’t know how I’ll go against her.

“If I race well I am expecting a podium.”

And if all goes well and she gets it, she’ll have achieved a podium finish in all three races this season, adding to the qualification for next year’s Ironman 70.3 World Championship in France that she gained in Sydney. Ironman 70.3 Taupo: Total participants 1005 Male: 629 (62.59 per cent) Female: 376 (37.41 per cent) Average age: 40 Median age: 40 Oldest: 79 – Brian Boyle Youngest: 18 – Chris Johnson

Top participant locations by country:

New Zealand: 824 Australia: 89

United States: 23

United Kingdom: 10 Canada: 7 Representation by region from New Zealand Auckland: 295 Waikato: 137 Wellington: 125

Bay of Plenty: 75 Manawatu: 53 Canterbury: 38 Taranaki: 37

Hawkes Bay: 20