Champ’s ‘hardest race’ after food scare
FOOD POISONING came within a whisker of derailing new women’s world triathlon champion Lisa Norden in yesterday’s Auckland grand final.
And with flu forcing Australia’s Erin Densham out halfway through the race, New Zealand’s top triathlete Andrea Hewitt finished the world series third overall.
After crossing the Queens Wharf finish line fourth, triggering enough points to snatch the overall world series, Swede Norden revealed an emergency early morning rush to hospital after eating bacteria- laden food in the lead-up to the race.
‘‘ I’ve never dug as deep that,’’ Norden said after the race.
‘‘It’s the hardest race I’ve ever had. I was in hospital last night, I ate something bad and had food poisoning. I was throwing up around 9pm and it never stopped.
‘‘At 4.30am I had to get a taxi to hospital and got an antinausea injection to try and recover as well as I could.
‘‘I cannot believe I’m the world champion.’’
Asked how close she came to not racing, Norden simply gestured with a pinched thumb and index figure.
The grand final itself was won by Germany’s Anne Haug, who was followed home by American Gwen Jorgensen and Chile’s Barbara Riveros Diaz.
Haug, who was ranked 56th in the world last year, described the win as her best ever.
‘‘It’s amazing, I can’t believe it. I feel like I’m in a bubble. I think I need to settle a little bit before I can believe it,’’ Haug said.
‘‘It was a perfect race after a perfect season for me.
‘‘It’s my best season I’m more than happy.’’
The news wasn’t as good for prerace series leader Densham though.
The Australian was battling flu in the lead-in to the race and was forced to quit midway through the bike. Densham’s failure to collect any points saw her drop out of the season top three completely, allowing New Zealand’s Hewitt to finish third overall with Haug leapfrogging the Kiwi into second.
Hewitt, who was sixth at the Olympic Games two months ago, said finishing third in the season overall marks a successful year,
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I’m pretty happy with the overall result for the year, finishing on the podium for the series. Andrea Hewitt
who finished the world series third overall even though she wasn’t able to repeat the wins of last year.
‘‘ I hurt my today, I could talk before,’’ said. ‘‘I’m pretty happy with the overall result for the year, finishing on the podium for the series.
‘‘ But today the result wasn’t what I was after; I had a good race but couldn’t finish on the last straight into Queen St.
‘‘ I couldn’t keep up with the leaders.’’ lungs hardly Hewitt
Fellow Kiwi Olympian Kate McIlroy, who was 10th at London 2012, had another solid result in the grand final, finishing closely behind Hewitt in ninth.
McIlroy took the lead on the cycle leg but decided to let herself drift back into the pack when she was unable to shake the chase group loose. ‘‘I realised the gap was staying the same and there was no point sitting 20 seconds in front of them for the next three laps so I decided to sit up and sit back into the bunch,’’ McIlroy said. ‘‘I’m lacking a bit of leg speed at the moment but I’m really happy with the result.
‘‘It’s the first time I’ve run with the front bunch and it actually felt quite comfortable today.’’
New Zealand’s two other entrants, Debbie Tanner and Nicky Samuels, finished 28th and 29th respectively.
Tanner will now retire.