Hello CTC folk from New Zealand. Just thought I’d post a brief report on my first triathlon of the year. On the weekend of 11th and 12th February Kinloch, on Lake Taupo, hosted a series of multi-sport races. Some of the races (Aquathlon and Aquabike) were qualification races for the World Championships in Townsville, Australia, later this year. The weekend started with the Aquathlon races on the Saturday afternoon in perfect conditions. Sunday was a different matter though. We were camping at the Marina in our campervan and awoke to a gale force wind and waves on the lake that you could surf on! Consequently, the technical officials decided to shorten the swim for the SD triathlon and the Aquabike from 1500 to 300m! I’d entered the Sprint Distance Triathlon which followed a couple of hours later. By this time the wind, and waves, had abated a little so the decision was made to keep the swim at 750m. The water was still very choppy though and I thought I was going to drown! Fortunately, I didn’t so proceeded to the three lap bike leg which included a short c. 20% hill away from the lake. The bike leg went well and I surprised myself with a reasonable run considering I had a knee injury. Unfortunately, as we get older the numbers competing reduce. This race was no exception so although I won my age group I only had to beat one other competitor! I was pleased to grab second place in the Vet category (60+ in this race?) though and, even better a very useful spot prize of two Vittoria tyres and tubes.