Currie satisfied he gave everything he had in tank

Wanaka Triathlete Braden Currie enjoys a well deserved beer after his fifth in the Ironman world...
Wanaka Triathlete Braden Currie enjoys a well deserved beer after his fifth in the Ironman world championships in Kona, Hawaii, on Sunday. PHOTO: SUPPLIED1
Wanaka athlete Braden Currie was on an intravenous drip after his efforts at the Ironman world championships but was satisfied in knowing he gave his all.

A costly mistake in forgetting his watch on the run leg may have put paid to his chances.

Currie finished fifth on the course in Kona, Hawaii, crossing the finish line as the sixth-fastest individual professional male in the history of the event.

Currie gave it his absolute all to cross the line in 8hr 4 min 41 sec in the 226km race.

Finishing the best of the New Zealanders, Currie just held off American athlete Matt Russell by 4sec, exerting himself so greatly he needed to intravenous drip inserted straight after he finished.

‘‘I absolutely gave it everything I had in the tank today. To be honest, I’m really proud of the result. I held tough. I held in there. At the end of the day, I tried to go for the win and that was what I was there for,’’ he said.

German athlete Patrick Lange was the repeat Ironman world champion, celebrating the 40th anniversary of the event by smashing his own course record in the process and becoming the first person to break 8hr in Kona, clocking 7hr 52min 39sec. Bart Aernouts, of Belgium, was second with Great Britain’s David McNamee in third.

Currie did not have a great start to the race.

‘‘I had a really bad swim start and got stuck over on the right-hand side. [Josh] Amberger and [Javier] Gomez and all those guys got well away from us.

‘‘I ended up pretty much swimming solo leading the second pack. I had to swim quite hard.’’

Currie was about 90sec behind at the start of the 180km bike leg but was not concerned.

‘‘I felt pretty good on the bike but I knew I probably didn’t have the power of those other bike specialist guys.’’

At the Hawi turnaround at 95km, Currie was riding hard and fast in the chase group, as the sun broke through and temperatures began to soar as they raced back through the volcanic lava fields on the Kona coast.

Currie finished 11th off his new bike and was just under 7min behind Australian Cameron Wurf, who set a bike course record.

‘‘I rode really well and just kept on top of nutrition and hydration. The back of the course was a lot easier than normal and there wasn’t much headwind. We all moved really fast.’’

Currie accidentally left his watch in transition as he headed out on the 42.4km run.

As a result, he pushed the pace but never knew when he was fading off it. Currie moved into third position by the 8.5km mark.

But as the heat took its toll, and with 5km left to race, he had slipped to fifth, American Tim O’Donnell getting in front of him.

Currie went out hard on the run but he would not have it any other way.

‘‘You never know until you try and it was lesson learnt for me. It was good fun and I definitely don’t regret it because I’m proud of the result.’’

Currie’s next scheduled race is the Taupo 70.3 event on December 8.


 

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