Carla Bywater won her second Triple Peaks Challenge crown today but a lot of water has passed through the river crossings since she first won the Hawke's Bay adventure race in 2015.
Bywater, who was Carla Cameron when she crossed the line in 2015 but married in April last year, got a free entry to last year's challenge but a bike crash put paid to her campaign to defend her women's solo run title.
"I was knocked off my bike on 17th of December, 2015, so that means I was not able to compete and off work for six months last year," says the 27-year-old physiotherapist at Optimise Physio in Hastings. She was speaking after stopping the clock today at 4hr 29m 43s to regain her peak supremacy, albeit three times around the Te Mata Peak circuit after the threat of flooding river crossings to Mt Erin and Mt Kahuranaki due to rain.
"Today was my first run back so it was a big deal for me to finish that," said the South African-born, from the Garden route on the Cape coast, who emigrated to the Bay 13 years ago.
She had completed a training ride around the Tukituki Loop, in preparation a week before the Rotorua Half-Ironman, when she was knocked off her bike as she headed for Hastings after dropping off a fellow rider at the village.