Feature
Her race is on
by Tim Watkin
Kiwi triathlete Sam Warriner, ranked 20th in the world, has an outside chance in this week’s Olympic event. In part two of her story, the Listener follows her to the world champs and her ultimate build-up for Athens.
Fridge magnets are always good,” she says, darting between shelves in the tourist shop at Auckland Airport. “The map ones are good because you can show them where you’re from.”
Sam Warriner is in typical whirlwind mode, scouring the shop for affordable presents before her plane departs for Canada. She grabs two tea towels, a pen that lights up, blows bubbles and plays a tune, and a shower gel and soap set before heading to the counter.
They’re gifts for the people she will stay with in the months before she represents New Zealand in the Women’s Triathlon on August 25, at the Olympic Games.
The Listener first met Warriner in April. She had just been selected for the Olympics, fulfilling a dream held since she was a child growing up in Surrey, England. She had been sports captain at her school and swum at regional competitions, but “was always the person who came second”.
When she moved to New Zealand in 1997 and settled in Whangarei with her boyfriend Nick Palmer, she put the dream away.
Then, just four years ago, she took up triathlons and found instant success. Within months she was representing New Zealand. Then in February she qualified for Athens. Having already put aside her teaching career at the start of last year to work fulltime on her sport, she redoubled her efforts. All those times she came second became a source of motivation, as did the support she received from Palmer (now her fiancé), family and the people of Whangarei. Through her public speaking, weekly training diary in the local paper and community work in schools and on projects such as Books in Homes, she had become a hometown favourite and been voted Northland’s sports personality of the year.
But although Warriner was driven and improving steadily, the strain was starting to show. She and Palmer had ploughed $20,000 of their own money into this dream, but by April their
relationship was rocky. As she sits in the airport sipping tea on this June morning, reflecting on the past two months, it seems her life has been like the pen she has just bought – a little bit of everything.
Waiting in the same airport on April 28, on her way to the world champs in Portugal, she is excited by the prospect of a second chance. At last year’s world champs in Queenstown, she had the worst race of her life. She over-trained, then got distracted speaking to media and schools when she arrived in town. In the race she got stuck in a chasing pack of cyclists, none of whom was willing to attack.
“I got off the bike and my legs felt awful. Everyone ran past me and psychologically I lost it. I kept thinking, ‘Oh my God, I’m doing so badly.’”
She slipped out of the top 20 that would have guaranteed her an Olympic spot, finishing 26th.
“I felt I let myself and my supporters down.”
In the year since, she has worked hard on the mental side of her sport, focusing on what she can control – her preparation, tactics and the thoughts in her head as she competes – and not the other athletes. But in the diary she agreed to keep for the Listener she expressed her sadness at leaving Palmer again. “I am used to saying goodbye due to racing overseas, but this time it feels more final, as our relationship has been under a great deal more stress.”
Warriner’s training in the French Pyrenees with the rest of the New Zealand team goes well, though.
The troubles of home are put aside as she concentrates on the daily physical routine and revels in the team environment.
Four days before the triathlon champs, she races in the world Aquathon championships – a 2.5km run, 1000m swim and another 2.5km run. She comes out of the water neck and neck with a Luxembourg woman, but starts the second run 15 seconds ahead, thanks to a quick transition. The streets are lined with cheering crowds, but she can hear her teammates above the rest, shouting “Go Kiwi”, as she powers towards the finish line, winning by 30 seconds. Her first world title.
“It was such a great feeling to stand on the podium and hear the anthem,” she writes in her diary.
But as she’s resting before the big race, she has too much time to think, “which is not always good if things aren’t
great at home”. When she phones, the conversations are stilted.
She throws herself into the parade of nations on the Thursday and the race briefing on Friday. Sticking to her routine, she lays her gear out ready that night, even though the race isn’t until 1.00pm.
Warriner likes to get to the starting line early. It gives her time to calm her nerves and focus on her race plan. And despite a false start, when she slips off the pontoon, the plan works. She has a disappointing swim, but hangs in on the bike and has “a storming run”. Not perfect, as she went out too fast and lost two positions near the end, but is third fastest in the race and her personal best, a real confidence boost. She finishes 13th.
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