Ironman: Ali Hollington's ready to shift focus

Hawke's Bay's Ali Hollington recorded her third Ironman New Zealand age group win in Taupo at the weekend. Photo/Duncan Brown

Hawke's Bay triathlete Ali Hollington is looking forward to downsizing and doing multisport events like the South Island's Coast to Coast ... for fun.

"This year's Kona Ironman in Hawaii will be my third and last. After that I'll focus more on multisport events," Hollington said.

The Napier teacher booked her trip to Kona when she won the 50-54 years age group title at Saturday's Ironman New Zealand event in Taupo. With a time of 10hr 23min 05sec for the 3.8km swim, 180km cycle and 42.2km run, Hollington beat her nearest age-group rival by more than 30 minutes.

She was the 19th fastest female including professionals, the sixth fastest female age grouper and 149th overall in the field of 1760. It was her third age group title in Taupo from five attempts and she finished second in her other two.

"Considering I've been really struggling since returning from Germany last July I was happy. I had low energy levels for a long time and only came right towards the end of January ... there's a thin line between over doing it," Hollington, a triathlete since 1997, explained.

The Ken MacLaren-coached Hollington completed the swim in 56min, the cycle in 5hr 31min and the run in 4hr 48min.

"Because of a few niggly knee injuries the run was hard work for me. The normal plan is to get to the halfway mark before it gets hard hard ... I was pretty average before then. If it hadn't been for all the Hawke's Bay people yelling and cheering I would have been down to a walk ... you're about to slow down and their yelling gives you another boost, it was incredible," Hollington said.

A two-time masters award winner at the annual Hawke's Bay Sports Awards function, Hollington, intends to have a six-week spell before beginning her training for the October Kona.

"I finished fourth in my age group at my last Kona in 2011. This time I'm going there to win but at the same time I know so many things can happen up there in the heat ... so it's important I go there with the aim of enjoying the journey also.

"Often with world titles it comes down to who turns up when events are in Europe or the United States but Kona is a true world championship because everyone goes there."

Because of the heat in Hawaii and with most of her training during the New Zealand winter she will do a lot of what she describes as "hot stuff" training, work in saunas and bikram yoga.

Hollington knows how to win world titles. She won a world long distance title in Germany in 2010 and another in Spain in 2012. At the 2012 World Age Group Champs in Auckland she was second in the Olympic Distance event and third in the Aquathon.

She is looking forward to her "spell" when she will spend time kayaking on Pandora Pond and tramping with fellow Napier Tramping Club members.

"Those are the things I sacrifice when I'm training. But at the same time I've got to keep active ... something different from swimming up and down those black lines at the Onekawa Pool." Hollington said the paddling will prepare her for when she targets the Coast to Coast in February, 2016 and other events before then. "I'm still falling out of the kayak so I've got hold of Phil to give me a few tips," Hollington said referring to Phil Dooney, one of the Bay's best kayaking coaches.

It's obvious ... it will only be a matter of time before we hear just as much about Hollington's multisport achievements as we have about her triathlon ones. Havelock North's John Moriarty was 15sec off a fourth trip to Hawaii when he finished third in his 60-65 years age group. He will tackle an eighth Taupo Ironman next year with the aim of improving on his 2014 time of 11hr 08min 59sec.