Courage carries Richmond to first title
09.01.2006
By JAMIE TROUGHTON
Nathan Richmond reckoned he struggled to see in the swim and hung on like a limpet on the bike, copping abuse and having to repel break after break.
Blood seeped from his feet after the 17th Port of Tauranga half ironman, and cramp attacked his tired muscles.
But to his rivals, the 26-year-old was simply bullet-proof.
Reward for his mental toughness was a first half ironman crown, a new race record and the New Zealand long distance triathlon championship.
Richmond finally cracked the Tauranga event in his fourth attempt, after finishing fourth in 2003, second in 2004 and seventh last year.
The Athens Olympian also salvaged something from a painful 12 months, which culminated in missing the Melbourne Commonwealth Games triathlon team late last year.
"I don't have the Commonwealth Games, which is a huge disappointment, and I guess there was a little bit of frustration that was blown off out there today," Richmond said.
"I am absolutely thrilled with this. It means so much to me and I'd like to spend the next six months at this distance.
"The strength that I can gain from doing this type of racing will ultimately benefit me over the Olympic distance as a perfect buildup to Beijing in 2008, and that's where I'm heading."
Richmond crossed the line in 3:47.54, knocking 14secs off Walter Thorburn's 1996 race record and shading pre-race favourite Kieran Doe by 1min 25secs.
The pair were locked in a titanic struggle throughout the 2km swim, 90km ride and most of the 21km run, until Richmond made a sudden burst heading off the Mauao basetrack on the second lap, pulling away from 24-year-old Doe over the last 7km.
But the writing was on the wall for the ever-popular Doe, who was second last year as well, after he and Stephen Sheldrake tried and failed to ride Richmond into the tarmac on the cycle leg.
"Stephen and I really pushed it hard on the bike, trying to break Nathan because I didn't want to get off and run with him," Doe said. "But to his credit he rode really well _ he stuck in there to hold on.
"There were too many teams and individuals in between us and it made it really hard. I tried to break Nathan and attack but there would be team riders in between so it was really hard to get him out in the open and isolate him.
"But that's what this race is about _ it's not just us out there racing, there's 600 other athletes out there, and when we go past them, they all want to have a crack at staying with us."
Six weeks ago, Richmond had surgery to remove a bone chip from his foot. His training for this race has been abbreviated, but obviously high-quality.
The way he tenaciously clung on during the cycle _ and indeed recorded the second-fastest cycling split _ gave him huge satisfaction.
"I never would have imagined that I could do this with six weeks buildup, and to get the record is just huge.
"The boys dragging us through on the bike was the key. It was attack after attack after attack trying to get rid of me. They needed to put a couple of minutes on me to put the race in their corner and it worked out awesome to stick around, like a fly in the ointment."
Doe couldn't mask his disappointment, though he manfully fronted up for interviews and admitted Richmond fully deserved his win.
"It's definitely gut-wrenching but I'm happy. I raced really well and that's all you can ask for.
"I went 40secs quicker than I did last year and I felt the best I've ever felt here. In previous years I've swam and biked well and struggled on the run, but this year I ran a lot quicker than I've ever done.
"But Nathan ran better on the day _ he was bullet-proof."
Sheldrake was third, blowing up on the run and finishing almost 11mins adrift of Doe.
He was followed by Thorburn, North Harbour age-grouper Tristian Calwell, and former Mount Maunganui athlete Blair Jordan. |
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