TRIATHLON - Warriner stepping up to challenge for world champs

A chance to test the leg speed against the one they call `The Beast' has Northland triathlete Sam Warriner keyed up for a shot at world championship glory in Vancouver this weekend.
Warriner, fellow Northlander Nicki Samuels and the rest of the New Zealand elite women's triathlon squad are included in the Vancouver BG Triathlon World Championship field early Monday morning (NZ time).
But it is current world champion Vanessa Fernandez of Portugal who is looming as the dominant figure in Vancouver, her status as the most powerful athlete on the women's international circuit omnipresent.
Not that Warriner seems all that fazed by the fact that Fernandez will be shooting for a consecutive title and arriving in Vancouver with the rest of the pack still searching for the best race plan to try to loosen her grip on the sport.
"She is the benchmark, she is the best of the best with her record and if you want to be the best in the world she is the one to beat on Sunday," Warriner said.
"Hopefully - yes, I can beat her - but this is just another one of the races before the Olympics.
"I don't want to pull everything out of the bag until then really, it may happen because I am fit, but I am keeping that one big run for the Olympics.
"Obviously I will be aware that Vanessa is there, but there are 70 other girls on the start line who want it just as much as me. I know what I have to do to put myself in the best position, but there are so many other things that can happen in a triathlon, if you worry about Vanessa someone else might come through."
Spiking Warriner's upbeat pre-race mood is the memory of her performance in Vancouver last year where she became the first women to break the 34-minute barrier on the final 10km run leg. It was a record that stood for just three weeks, before Fernandez replied with an even quicker run-leg time.
But a training regime while based in Penticton, a few hours north of Vancouver, has added some unexpected variety and has put Warriner in prime physical and mental shape for the world title bid.
Warriner took Whangarei junior men's triathlete Lee Greer to Canada as a training mule and is also travelling with fiance Stephen Bradley. Greer's strength on the run in particular has kept Warriner on edge, as has the scenery on long training sessions in the Canadian wilderness.
"Over here (in Canada) the bears are coming down looking for food and we have been taking our bear spray on training runs just in case. I wouldn't mind seeing one in the distance but not close up on the training run but I have seen rattlesnakes though, I've had to jump over a few on the trails when out on a run.
"It would be nice to have a good result in the worlds, I have not performed as well at the world championship races in the past, the best I have ever got is 11th. It would be nice to get a solid performance under my belt.
"Spending so long in Canada means Vancouver is a bit of a home away from home. It is the same sort of lifestyle and temperature as NZ so that helps, and last time I was here I got a huge cheer from the Canadian crowd because I was chasing down the Americans, so that helped.
"There is something about the course that agrees with me."
The Vancouver BG Triathlon World Championships will be the 20th in ITU's history. Close to 3000 athletes from 60 countries will compete in junior, under 23, elite and age-group categories. It will be the biggest sporting event to hit Vancouver before the 2010 Winter Olympic Games and will be the final Olympic qualifier.