Triathlon: Triathlete ready to try new challenge - motherhood

For 10 years Barb Lindquist's skis have been propped up in the shed.

But in the next few weeks, her decade-long career as a professional triathlete behind her, she will happily drag them out and again enjoy some Nordic skiing in her home state of Wyoming.

Sunday's ITU World Cup race in New Plymouth will mark the end of one of the most illustrious careers the sport has known.

And don't dare suggest to her that she might change her mind and be back for another year on the circuit.

"This is it," Lindquist said after her arrival in Taranaki this week. "I feel blessed that I am able to choose my time and step away. I have a life outside triathlon and I'm looking forward to that."

And having a family.

"For 10 years I have given 100 per cent to my sport. Now I want to be a 100 per cent mum," said Lindquist, 36, and one of the most popular athletes on the circuit.

"I'm sure Sunday will be an emotional day, but I'm looking forward to the race and then spending 10 days touring around with my husband after that.

"Then it will be home to the mountains. I'm a mountain girl, and it will be great to have the time to do these other things. I grew up on skis, but I haven't been on them for 10 years."

Unlike many sportsmen and women who finish their careers without much apart from some great experiences behind them, Lindquist has no such worries.

She won the Lifetime Fitness race in the United States twice, collecting US$50,000 ($73,000) and US$250,000 for her efforts in the handicap races in which the best female and male triathletes went head-to-head.

"That money is tucked away and will allow me to be a stay-at-home mum," she said.

Lindquist said she had no idea of how many races she has contested - but guesstimates at around 15 to 18 each year.

She has also competed in the Hawaii Ironman Championship (in 2000 when she finished 19th without really setting herself for the ultimate tri-challenge) and has contested sprint and half-distance triathlon and ironman races. This year she headed off-road for an Xterra (mountain-bike) race.

A former top swimmer who has rarely been outside the top five in coming out of the water, Lindquist has used that to her advantage in 10 attempts at the world championships and her Olympic outing in Athens last year.

"The closest I came was in 2000 in Cancun, Mexico, where I led until the last 200m and finished second. I was lucky to hold on to that. It was so hot."

Asked to point to a highlight in such a long and successful career, Lindquist said simply: "Consistency. From 2000 to this year I was never out of the money in any of my Olympic-distance races. I have trained hard, but it has always been enjoyable."

Her first elite professional race was in April 1996, and now Lindquist is preparing to "do it one more time".

Fired up by what she called a poor race (she finished 26th after being third out of the water) at this year's world championships in Japan, she is ready to give it one last shot knowing it really is.