Thursday, April 26, 2012

Missing in Action - First Tri Attempt in NZ

Just over a week ago, someone posted on a Facebook group that he was going down to Invercargill for a triathlon and was looking for folks to share the ride with him.  I volunteered to be the swimmer if he wanted to do a relay.  He agreed.

We left Dunedin just after 7am on Sunday and made it to the pool just before the 9:45am race briefing.  Unfortunately, this did not give us enough time to go to the bike/run transition area to drop off Chris' running shoes.

As we drove into the pool parking lot, Chris turned to me and said, "You have a drivers license, right?"

Turns out I had to drive Chris' shoes to the next transition area while he was on the bike.  I was confident-ish in my driving skills, but not confident that I could find the hotel parking lot where T2 was located.

Long story short, I drove past the right hand turn that would have lead me to the spot to drop off the running shoes.  Instead, I drove several kilometers in the wrong direction, turned around only to end up in a school parking lot, and made a wrong turn out of the school parking lot only to end up in some residential neighborhood.

By a stroke of luck, I eventually found the transition area where Chris was patiently waiting for his shoes.

Interestingly, despite waiting for me for over 10 minutes, our relay team still placed 2nd.

Bike/run transition area:

It was a small race, but fun!  I enjoyed that it was super laid back.  Definitely something that my good friends from the Broome County Triathlon Club should consider organizing at home.  *hint, hint*

Chris was kind enough to take us on a detour to Bluff before heading back.  It was just a short drive south and is known as the southern most point on a state highway in New Zealand.



Over all, it was a nice day out of town.  Let's hope I won't have to drive crucial pieces of race equipment to teammates next time!

2 comments:

  1. Sara is being a bit rough on herself, she only had me waiting a couple of minutes. A few minutes showing off my flash new TT bike to fellow competitors so it wasn't all lost. It was great meeting you Sara and introducing you into the relaxed Tri scene here in the deep south. The winter Duathalon series is just around the corner, so break out the termal wear and wooly hats. Cheers
    Chris

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Chris! It was a splendid way to get introduced, that's for sure. Can't wait to do more races!

      Delete