Warriner puts heart into Ironman win

Leading results: P7As Whangarei's Samantha Warriner battled the final 5km of the run in the 27th Ironman New Zealand race at Taupo, with current world ironman champion Mirinda Carfrae hot on her heels, her only thought was: "There's no way I'm going to let anyone overtake me at the end of this race in my home country."
Mental toughness and crowd support spurred the athlete on to stay ahead of Carfrae to win her first Ironman New Zealand. It was only Warriner's second stint racing this distance - the first ironman she contested was in the United States late last year, which she said she went into totally under-prepared.
The 39-year-old won Saturday's race in a time of 9h 31m 7s - and the victory linked her with an elite group of triathletes.
"It makes me the third woman in history who have won an ITU World Cup race, a 70.3 [half ironman] and an ironman. I can't tell you how it feels to win this.
"I was very emotional at the finish line and overwhelmed with where I had come from," Warriner said yesterday.
On December 1, Warriner was in hospital having heart surgery to rectify a racing heart - not knowing whether she would be able to race again.
But four months on, she conquered the 3.8km swim in one of her best efforts in the water to exit with a two-minute lead. She then hammered the bike leg in torrid, wet and slippery conditions, and made her intentions loud and clear by gaining 10 minutes on the bunch at the final transition. She then ran a solid marathon, holding off world champion Carfrae and seven-time Ironman NZ winner Jo Lawn in the process.
"I didn't feel great on the run but that is what it is like in this sport. I just focused on myself and, with 5km to go, I was in a lot of pain but the mental toughness got me through. I managed to hold off Mirinda - who no one has beaten in the last two years.
"In the end I did all three disciplines well enough to win. I'm very, very pleased."
The win earned Warriner 1000 points towards her entry to the World Ironman Championships (Kona) in Hawaii.
Meanwhile, US-based Australian Carfrae crossed the finish line second with a time of 9h 31m 33s, while Lawn recovered from mechanical difficulties on the bike leg to come in third, in 9h 31m 53s. Australia's Kate Bevilaqua was fourth in 9h 40m 1s, while Kiwi Belinda Harper claimed fifth with 9h 40m 33s.
The men's race finished with just as much emotion when Cameron Brown won his 10th Ironman New Zealand. The win makes Brown the first triathlete in the world to win the same Ironman race 10 times.
It was a typically calculated performance from Brown, who broke away from main rivals near the end of the bike, engulfed leader Scott Curry from Canada early on the run to win in 8h 31m 7s on a day of continual rain, finishing ahead of fellow Terenzo Bozzone and Switzerland's Mathias Hecht.