“I came home and slept for six months. I was very, very sick with that,” Barrett said.
“Two years later, I tried to go for Melbourne Commonwealth Games but my body just couldn’t handle the rush of adrenaline at the start of a race. I couldn’t process things very well, so my body used to shut down in the water and I couldn’t carry on.”
She had set her heart on getting to the Olympics - a goal that stemmed from the 1991 Commonwealth Games when she was involved with a skipping rope display alongside hundreds of other schoolchildren, during the opening ceremony.
“I told my mum then I was going to the Olympic Games so she watched me go all the way through and then almost get there.”
Instead, she trained as a technical official and got chosen for the London Olympics in 2012.
“So I got there in the end,” Barrett said.
“That was amazing, the most amazing Olympics. I had been to London before but it was like the city changed. It was a really vibrant, happy city with the most amazing volunteers. It was the most amazing event to go to and be involved.”
She still officiates, but it is more about mentoring other officials these days.
“I could go to the Olympics Games, and Paris would be amazing, but I feel it is important to inspire and give other officials a chance, so I have stepped into that role now of mentoring and inspiring. I do facilitating, so working with officials, getting their next level of officiating.”
Barrett is also the vice president of the Oceania Triathlon Union, she has served on the International Triathlon Union Technical Committee and is an elite selector for Triathlon New Zealand.
She was head technical official at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and invited to be a member of the Tokyo Olympic Games’ competition jury in 2021.
Technical officials organise every aspect of an event, as well as oversee the officiating during the races.
Barrett was also selected to participate in the US State Department Global Sports Mentoring Programme in 2015 - a global initiative designed to empower women and girls and those with disabilities to take part in sports.
From 2002 to 2005, she was the New Zealand head mentor and spokeswoman for the Weet-Bix Kiwi Kids Mentoring programme and managed the Weet-Bix Kids Tryathlon in Taupō, increasing participation in the event from 1400 to 2000 children.
She was technical manager of Triathlon New Zealand for 10 years and has supported triathlon events including the Masters Games, the Youth Olympics and the New Plymouth Triathlon World Cups.
Becoming a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit was a “huge, huge honour”.
“It’s very exciting and a reflection of all the hours put in. In officiating, there is a lot of voluntary hours, same with selection now, and vice president. It is all voluntary, it is not paid. There is a lot of hours that go into a sport that a lot of people don’t see or know but it is your passion, I love triathlon.”
In addition to all the service to the sport, she also has an event management and health and safety company, and she owns and runs the New Plymouth Triathlon World Cup, the only World Cup in New Zealand each year.
“I have owned that for seven years now. Previously it was owned by Terry Sheldrake. He has been a bit of a mentor for me going through the ranks.”
Barrett said it was great for the sport to see athletes such as Hayden Wilde and Taupō's Nicole van der Kaay doing so well on the international stage.
“It is really nice having our sport having those athletes again, that people can aspire to and look up to to get into the sport. It is really important to have that. It gets young kids interested in being part of triathlon.”
She loves organising events because, unlike other sports which can be played socially or on any rugby field or netball court, without an event to actually compete in, triathlon doesn’t exist.
