2008 World Triathlon Championships
By SGT Greg O'Connor
The NZ triathlon team of 110 athletes arrived in Vancouver on 1 June to contest the 2008 World Triathlon Championships.
SGT O'Connor (Air), CAPT Stallard (Army), LT McGregor (Navy). (WN-08-0038-20).
For the first time ever a representative from all three of our Services, CAPT Shannon Stallard (Army), LT Scott McGregor (Navy) and SGT Greg O’Connor (Air), had made the team to represent their country at the same event. As far as I know never before has a representative from each of our three Services been in the same team at the same time so it’s a pretty special achievement in itself.
For myself it was the third time in as many years that I have been lucky enough to represent and this year I was looking to ‘Step Up’ and achieve a personal goal of a top 15 placing.
Race day 8th June. This proved to be a challenge in itself with weather conditions being a balmy 10 degrees!! Water temp wasn't much better at a very, very crisp 11.9! Luckily for us though all Men’s races were starting later in the morning (after the Women and Athletes with disabilities) which meant the day had a chance to possibly warm up? Unfortunately it didn’t and in fact got worse. Just before the Men’s races were due to start the sea conditions worsened causing the organisers to replace the 1500m swim with a 3km run. Not great news for me, coming from a swimming background. But apparently the life boats were losing sight of swimmers due to the choppy conditions. By the time our race started it had been delayed by approximately 2 hours (again not great for the nutrition and pre race prep) and, Murphy’s law, the weather had done a complete flip with blue skies and only little wind. However, still very cold. The race went well for me (possibly coping with the cold conditions a bit better than some of the more ‘slender’ athletes) finishing in 16th position out of the 101 entered. This was by far my best result at this event and has given me a very strong focus on continuing to improve my performance over the coming season in preparation of making the team for the 2009 World Championships on the Gold coast, Australia, and shooting for a top five finish.
Since returning home I have been enjoying a break away from training and making the most of the spare time while it lasts. I am attending a Triathlon NZ Level 2 Coaches course in late July and will be looking to recruit some new faces to the sport. So if you think this sport interests you or are just keen to try one you can get in touch with me anytime, I am more than happy to help.
Thank you to the Air Force Base Welfare Fund and my main sponsor McKenzie Electrical 2000. Without their continued support, competing at this level would prove very difficult if not impossible. Thanks again.
Results
- CAPT Shannon Stallard, 3rd, Men’s 25 – 29 yr.
- LT Scott McGregor, 22nd, Men’s 25 – 29yr.
- SGT Greg O’Connor, 16th, Men’s 35 – 39yr.