Dan Plews wins the Nutri-Grain Ironman in Taupō, 2022.

Age no barrier for Ironman champ

Author: Taupo & Turangi Herald,
Publish Date: Tue, 13 Dec 2022, 1:51pm

Triathletes have celebrated the return of the Nutri-Grain Ironman New Zealand, with the race back last weekend for the first time since March 2021.

Athletes from across Aotearoa and around the world descended on Taupō to take on a 3.8-kilometre swim, 180km bike ride and 42.2km run before finishing on the famous Ironman red carpet.

It was a unique day of racing for the Ironman athletes, with no professionals at the front of the field. It meant age group athletes Dan Plews and Vanessa Murray took the Ironman New Zealand tape in the men’s and women’s races, cementing themselves a place in history few others can claim.

Vanessa Murray wins the Nutrigrain Ironman in Taupo, 2022.

Auckland-based Plews was the first Ironman athlete to cross the finish line on Saturday afternoon, completing the course in 8:50:12. Wellington’s Jeff McHardy and Tauranga’s Gregory Bassam rounded out the men’s age group top three.

Plews is a triathlon coach, with the women’s 2022 Ironman World Champion Chelsea Sodaro under his tutelage, and is himself the 2018 Overall Age Group Ironman World Champion. That race four years ago was the last time Plews raced an Ironman.

“It’s really special - it’s probably the only time ever really that an age grouper will cross the line and take the tape, so I think that’s quite cool. It was definitely a big draw, because I made the decision eight weeks ago; it all happened in October.

“Chelsea Sodaro, who I coach, won the Ironman World Champs. I turned 40, and I was all motivated to try and get an entry, so then I got an entry, got in a good little block of eight weeks [of] solid work, and it was worth it for that.

“I’m a sports scientist, so I’m very meticulous about numbers, powers - and my watch broke. I had no data at all on the bike, so I was absolutely running blind. So, I just kind of went on feel.

“I might have biked a little bit too hard maybe, I’m not that sure. I think I was five minutes behind out of the water, and then it took me ages to catch the first guy on the bike, and I didn’t catch him until close to the turnaround on the second lap. I did the second lap exactly the same as I did the first lap, and I think that’s what made the difference.”

Melbourne-based Kiwi Vanessa Murray claimed the overall women’s title, crossing the line in 9:41:10, more than 14 minutes clear of Queenstown-based Irish athlete Fiona Gallagher, in second, and over 27 minutes ahead of Auckland’s Taryn Ryan.

“It feels awesome. I had a really challenging day, so I was just determined to hang on to the win so that I could come away with something. I had a great run, so I’m stoked with that, but I had a few challenges on the bike with getting a puncture,” Murray said.

“It’s amazing - as age groupers, we don’t get the opportunity to take the tape very often, so it was extra motivation to try to get the win.

Competitors begin the Ironman in Taupō, 2022.

“I had a great swim, I felt really good in the swim; it’s so nice to swim in a lake. Living in Melbourne, we don’t have the best water in St Kilda, so the lake was beautiful. The bike, I was actually feeling really good all day, felt really strong, but getting a puncture at 170 kilometres put a dampener on the day. But I guess I need to look past that - I had a good day. [I] really wanted a solid run to round it out, so overall I’m really, really happy,” she said.

It’s been a busy year so far for Murray, who won her age group at the 2021 Ironman World Championship in St George, Utah, in May, finished runner-up at the Qatar Airways Ironman 70.3 Western Sydney in September and claimed victory in her age group in last month’s GWM Ironman 70.3 in Melbourne.

Today was the first time the Aucklander had returned to New Zealand since racing Ironman New Zealand in 2020.

“I raced here in 2020 before the Covid lockdown. It was so good to be back. Most of my friends and family are still in New Zealand, so it was like [a] reunion here. My dad was out on course, and [I saw a] whole lot of friends I haven’t seen in years, so it was a great day,” said Murray.

There are still plenty of Ironman athletes out on course, all making their way along the Lake Taupō waterfront toward the red-carpet finish, situated in Tongariro North Domain.

Ironman 70.3

Earlier in the day, New Zealand’s Jack Moody and Sweden’s Anna Bergsten claimed maiden victories in the Nutri-Grain Ironman 70.3 New Zealand professional races.

It was a special day for both Moody and Bergsten, who took out their maiden Ironman 70.3 wins as professionals and wrote themselves into the history books.

Jack Moody crosses the line first in the Nutrigrain Ironman 70.3 in Taupō, 2022.

“I think I’ve done enough of these now. It’s so hard to win one - you can get on the podium, but to actually get first just feels like that next step up, and to win like I did today, even better. It kind of cements what I’m doing now, how hard I’ve been working this year and what I’ve thrown into the sport, and where I might go next year,” Moody said.

“It’s really special to get on the board here. It’s all the legends of New Zealand, so my name’s up there now.”

Moody went out hard on the bike to recover a 50-second deficit lost to the leaders after the swim, but once he hit the front, victory never looked in doubt, with the Aucklander running home to take the tape in 3:49:18.

“I can’t believe it. I probably had the best swim of my life. I thought the group had separated at halfway, and I tried to swim across, and I actually realised that I was the one swimming away from Group Two, which was cool, and then I managed to ride the house down, which was cool - haven’t ridden like that ever. And then [I] really paid for it on the run, but held it together and got the win, which just means so much,” he said.

Christchurch’s Mike Phillips finished in second, over seven minutes behind Moody, with Hamilton’s Simon Cochrane in third, rounding out an all-Kiwi men’s podium.

First out of the water in the Ironman 70.3 New Zealand race was Australia’s Charlie Quin, closely followed by New Zealand’s Sam Osborne and French Polynesia athlete Benjamin Zorgnotti. The trio were quickly through transition one, with Moody nearly a minute down but in hot pursuit.

Moody rode hard and fast on the bike to make up the gap and took the lead about 35km into the 90km ride. Behind him, Osborne fell foul to a drafting penalty, while Phillips used his Tour of Southland stamina to power through the field, leaving himself second by the Reporoa turnaround.

“I didn’t want it to be a running race between me and Charlie Quin - I was a bit worried about that, and then on the bike I also didn’t want any passengers, so when I went past a few people I went about as hard as I possibly could for some good spurts. Then I think Charlie or Sam, one of them, got on my wheel, and I heard a penalty go behind me. The whistle blew, so someone must’ve got too close. I don’t know who it was, if it was one or two of them, which is a shame, but it allowed me to get a big lead coming into T2 and settle in for a long run,” said Moody.

Heading into transition two, Moody held a four-minute lead over Phillips and went on to extend that out further throughout the run, though by his own admission he felt the pain toward the back end of the run after pushing the pace on the bike.

“It was cool, it was different. It was so cool to be back [in Taupō], but it was a bit of a different course, so it did have a bit of a unique feel to it, with even the bike course ever-so-slightly different, swim course feeling very different, the way it went, and then the run course being back to two laps. It gets pretty lonely out there, so you’re just waiting for that crowd support coming into town, because that’s enormous.”

Sweden's Anna Bergsten crosses the line first in the Nutrigrain Ironman 70.3 in Taupo, 2022.

Anna Bergsten, hailing from Öglunda in Sweden, claimed her maiden Ironman 70.3 win as a professional, having only made the step up from age group racing this year.

The women’s race appeared as if it was shaping up to be a head-to-head foot race between New Zealander’s Hannah Berry (née Wells) and Rebecca Clarke - but Bergsten had a different script in mind.

The Swede was fourth off the bike, 1:40 down on the Kiwi duo, but her women’s best half marathon time of 1:25:50 saw her sweep past Berry at the halfway mark on the run, and she continued to extend her lead to take out the win in 4:21:09. Tauranga’s Berry was second, with Auckland’s Clarke rounding out the women’s podium in third.

“It feels amazing, really good, I’m so happy to be here. I was going here in 2020 actually, for the age group world champs, so I’ve been longing to come back ever since. And finally I’ve been able to make it over - as a pro, not an age grouper. It feels amazing,” said Bergsten.

Bergsten is the 2021 Age Group World and European Ironman 70.3 Champion, but only turned pro at the start of 2022. After enduring a tough year, she has now announced herself on the world stage.

“[It’s] very special because I’ve had a catastrophic year. I had Covid, then [an] iron deficiency, and then I crashed at the European champs, so it’s been a really tough season. So, it felt really good to end on a high and go into off season able to do some good work for the year ahead,” she said.

Bergsten was sixth out of the water, over three minutes down on the leader Clarke, who had a typically strong swim, but she pulled herself up a couple of places by the end of the 90km bike to head into transition two in fourth position.

“My plan was to try to go quite hard on the swim. I don’t have any swimming background, so I knew I’d probably be three or four minutes behind the top girls. I was three-and-a-half minutes behind, I think, so that was according to plan, and then on the bike I just planned to go a bit harder in the beginning to see if I could catch some girls. [I] caught a couple, and then just tried in every out and back to keep an eye on if I was gaining any ground on the leaders, which I was, so that gave me a bit of a boost,” said Bergsten.

At the start of the run Clarke and Berry held a solid lead over the Swede, and it looked like the race for the Ironman 70.3 New Zealand title might come down to a battle between the two Kiwis, but Bergsten used her impressive run speed to reel in the leaders and then take the lead before the halfway point.

“On the run, the plan was just to go out quite hard, and I found a pretty good rhythm early on, and then I just stuck to that and caught the girls around eight, nine kilometres. Then, I just stuck to my rhythm, eased off a bit when my friends said ‘Play it smart here’ - so, yeah, it was quite an enjoyable race, actually, I didn’t mind too much the rain.

“I just found a rhythm that felt nice. It was a bit faster than I planned, but then again it felt comfortable, so I just let it sit there. I felt already in the morning when I was warming up that I had good run legs, so I just went with it, and just kind of enjoyed it quite a lot,” said Bergsten.

The 31-year-old will finish the season with her Ironman 70.3 New Zealand win, and plans to spend some time with friends in Aotearoa making the most of the warm weather she hopes will come.

“I’ve always wanted to come to New Zealand. My whole family has been here when they were younger, and I’m the only one who hasn’t been here, so I really wanted to go a couple of years ago, but that didn’t happen,” she said. “Then, with the start of this season being pretty bad, I didn’t want to end it when it started turning and going well - around September, I think. It just felt like such a shame to leave it there, but then obviously the season in Europe is over in October. But, then there were some lucky circumstances where some of my best friends could come with me and stay for a couple of months, so I did Melbourne a month ago. I just had great support with me for this whole trip, and obviously on course today, so thanks to them.

“We just made it a vacation now with off season coming up, a nice summer over here – hopefully that will come – so yeah, just lucky circumstances with being able to race and then being able to have a bit of vacation together,” Bergsten.

Nutri-Grain Ironman 70.3 New Zealand - Final Results

Professional Men