Rotorua Half Ironman 2009

New Zealand's best half ironman awaits you. Where to begin?

The swim. Firstly and most importantly, this race has water warm for December. Our Taupo years are behind us now and gone is the freezing cold 13 to 15 degree water which you all had to survive there.

In its place, Tikitapu, the Blue Lake. Here in Rotorua, there are none of those snow-fed rivers. The Blue Lake water temperature varies in spots from 18 degrees to 22 degrees. The water temperature on race day 2006 and 2007 was a whole seven degrees warmer than Lake Taupo on the same date. The Blue Lake is without question the number one swim venue for any triathlon over any distance in the country, especially prior to Christmas.

The bike. Don’t take my word for it; just trust the replies from last year’s post-race survey. We asked the competitors what they thought of the course and the answer was drop-dead stunning and not as difficult as anticipated. Asked to rate the course out of 10, an amazing 25% of respondents gave this cycle course the perfect score. If I wanted to be finicky, there are certainly some courses as beautiful in the South island. In the North Island, though, nothing gets remotely close to this beautiful cycle challenge.

Though the bike course was definitely not as daunting as competitors had expected, don’t worry, there are certain stages that will have you quietly questioning yourself. The Hell's Gate climb and the Tarawera Road are deservedly being written into triathlon folklore, getting a mention now in the same sentence as Kawakawa Bay, Matingarahi and the house of MLW Adams. (You need to ask an ironman old-timer just what was sprayed on the road outside Mr Adams gate – or see the bottom for answer.)

Experienced athletes noted that the Rotorua half ironman cycle course was only around four to seven minutes slower than the Taupo course on average. Every cyclist was unanimous that the time in the saddle simply flew by, no more grinding it out through dreary, dead-flat dairy flats.

So to the run. This run course has the perfect balance of off-road and on-road. Two laps around the lake was just right. Over the next weeks, we may be announcing a change to the run course to avoid the double out-and-back past the Buried Village, but, most unbelievably, the lookout stays.

To the uninitiated, I suggest you ask any Rotorua half ironman finisher whether they used the hand rails at the lookout. Don’t listen to their answer, look into their eyes. They will tell you all about stairs that go straight up and then straight down. Twice.

Don’t blame me for the lookout’s survival, that’s down to you, and it’s also the real reason why this race is so special.

Because you helped build it.

This race is unique, because no other long-distance race in New Zealand even asks for feedback from competitors. We make our decisions based on what you want. We know that you want registration in town (or to be precise 89 percent of you wanted registration in town) and we also know that 89 percent want to rack their bikes on race morning, 99 percent had no trouble with parking, and that if we create an "M" shaped swim, we will improve our preferred swim rating from 53 percent to 75 percent. We know that 25 percent rated the cycle course the perfect 10, that trying to smash drafting is a work in progress. We also know that 64 percent of you, for whatever reason, want to keep a set of stairs that go absolutely nowhere. Why? Because over 300 competitors told us.

This race also has a post-race celebration like no other. We have had to add a veteran section to the fourth leg champs (we will be adding a fifth leg this year – shag, swim, bike, run, shag – to appease the diehard endurance junkie). We will party again like it is 1999.

Event listed by Rotorua

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