Triathlon: Dietician's time to shine in Chicago

Fred Koenders (left), Karen Moore, Leon Whaanga and Eva Goodisson.

Achieving at the Maisey family home in Tokoroa was always a given.

That doesn't mean Karen Moore (nee Maisey) necessarily took it - not for the want of trying - as a netballer, rower or a crosscountry runner.

"The only girl, I did have to try to keep up with Peter and Derek," says Moore of her brothers.

Derek, 38, is a former Waikato/Canterbury and Chiefs first five-eighth.

Peter, 34, of Cambridge, is a former Waikato under-20 and Nelson Bays rugby player.

Throw in the fact that their father, James Maisey, was a Mooloo man and mother Ann an ex-Waikato netball representative and you start getting a sharper picture of where Moore's coming from.

"I played netball for a top school but never made it to the rep teams," says the 36-year-old who relished her time with her siblings on the family dairy farm.

"I was a bit short (1.63m) but probably not good enough as a centre or wing attack," is Moore's sobering self-assessment.

But the Hawke's Bay sports nutritionist's time is well and truly here as she prepares to jet to Chicago in September to compete in the 35 to 39 age-group grade in the triathlon world championship.

Some may argue she is already in the league of accomplishers for completing events, let alone winning her age-group title in the Auckland Triathlon last month.

"Maybe I'm still trying to prove something to myself," says Moore with a laugh.

Fred Koenders, Leon Whaanga and schoolgirl Eva Goodisson are the other Bay triathletes in the Chicago equation.

Naomi Fergusson trains Moore, who also received instruction from former Bay coach Tim Jardine and Ken Maclaren, of Napier.

Moore clocked 1h 22m in Auckland in the Olympic distance of swimming 1.5km, biking 40km and running 10km, something she will try to emulate in Chicago with interest.

"My goal is to like get a top-10 finish in the field," she says, adding her most testing discipline is swimming although she was pleased to be the fifth best female swimmer in Auckland.

Her new gear, including wetsuit and shoes, will cost around $1000 while her flight and accommodation expenses will set her back by about $5000.

"I'll do some fundraising and look for sponsorship."

Pivotal to her campaign has been husband Philip, a paediatrician at the Hawke's Bay Regional Hospital in Hastings.

"I do appreciate how much he does," she says of Philip who looks after their two children, Daniel, 7, and Lily, 6, at their Havelock North home after his hospital shift while she squeezes in 10 to 15 hours of training a week.

"Phil supports me a lot and that team support gets me on the line," she says of her hubby who will accompany her to Chicago while the grandparents look after the children.

She enjoys the socialising aspect of the code that Hawke's Bay Triathlon offers.

"I want to keep doing it but I'd like to see my children involved in their sports so then I'll just be happy to do it socially.

"Daniel's not sporty so I'm coming to terms with it. He's more academic," she says of her son who is into gymnastics and also takes swimming lessons with Lily.

The mother suspects swimming features in the children's routine perhaps because she struggles with it.

Moore's aquatic involvement began with rowing in a four at St Paul's Collegiate before she moved to Waikato Diocesan.

"I was a coxswain at St Paul's in my brothers' four and eight teams," reveals Moore who went on to obtain a degree in science and human nutrition to become a registered dietician.

"I didn't get into triathlon until after I had Dan," she says, stumbling on to a women's-only event while in search of running disciplines.

Like many mothers, the then 29-year-old simply wanted to get back into shape after childbirth.

"I did reasonably well and surprised myself so I just kept going."

Wanting to run a standard distance, she got in touch with Jardine who had the likes of Fergusson, Jeremy Natusch, Hayley Davis, Megan Watson and Emma Mackie in his stable.

"He [Jardine] pulled me along and I enjoyed it," she says, taking a break to have Lily before easing back into the triathlon scene again.

Moore has set up a nutrition academy with the Hawke's Bay Rugby Football Union for emerging talent.

She also is involved with the Pathway to Podium programme that embraces pre-carded athletes such as cyclist Regan Gough, swimmer Bobbi Gichard and middle-distance runner Holly Manning.

"They are all motivated and want to achieve so it's quite rewarding," Moore says.

Reaching start line reward after injury

Fred Koenders has no goals going into the Triathlon World Championship in Chicago in September.

"Just getting there and competing there are good enough for me," says the commerce and technology dean at the Eastern Institute of Technology who will compete in the men's 55-59 grade.

That's because Koenders, who qualified seventh in the Auckland Triathlon last month, has overcome a battle with achilles tendinitis that put him out of running for 18 months.
"So I've pretty much got over it to attend the world champs again," he says, after making the cut to the Beijing champs in 2011.

The ex-Sport Hawke's Bay chairman and past president of HB Multisport has competed in triathlons for 24 years.

"I like to extend myself and set ambitious goals in my sport and work life," he says, meeting the demands of triathlons with fulltime jobs as well as holding other positions.
Koenders says triathletes receive vital support from other clubs and supporters, such as Reece Kennedy at Flaxmere Waterworld in swimming.

Leon Whaanga, 53, of Hastings, is competing in the 50-54 category after clocking 2h 31m in Auckland.

"It's my first time overseas so I'm absolutely buzzing," says the IT manager.
Whaanga's love for the sport began with the inaugural 2009 Ironmaori as one of the 300 originals.

The Contact Tri-series, Rotorua Marathons and 2011 NZ Ironman followed but it's this Olympic distance that is the kindest to his body.

"You have to be clever," he says, before he starts his five-month training for Chicago next week.

Whaanga is indebted to his whanau and Ironmaori for getting him there.