Masterton Masters swim group member Kirsten Cameron was surprised as anyone when she won the premier women's title at the inaugural New Zealand 10km open water swimming championships held at Oriental Bay, Wellington over the weekend.
It was Cameron's first serious assignment since a 15-month break to recover from what she
described as "burn out" and that, combined with a limited preparation, had her focusing more on just making it to the finish rather than on where she might place.
"Honestly, I hadn't even thought of winning, I didn't think I was ready for that," Cameron said, after clocking a time of 2hrs 29mins in conditions which were testing, to say the least. She had four minutes to spare from her nearest rival.
"It was really rough, I actually felt a bit queasy for quite a while," Cameron said of the conditions. "There was no consistency about the waves and it was hard to get into any sort of rhythm, it was pretty much a battle all the way through."
Under the coaching of Hamilton-based Cliff Threadgood, Cameron's training schedule is not as stamina-based as it once was and she is thoroughly enjoying her new regime. "It's more about quality than quantity and it seems to suit me," she said.
Cameron is now turning her attention to the Australian open water 10km and 5km championships to be held in Sydney about the end of this month
"Preparation-wise I'll still be behind the eight ball but I'm planning to give it a go," she said. "Again it will be a case of giving it my best shot and see what happens & I'm not going there with any great expectations."
