Chamberlain (24), a years 5-6 teacher at The Terrace School, was out for a training ride on New Year's Eve when, descending the hill on to the Clyde bridge, she hit some loose gravel and the bike went from under her.
She suffered a large amount of bruising and abrasions and has trained since with a swollen right hand that has hampered her grip.
"I was very sore," she said.
She escaped serious injury but the same could not be said for her bike. It required some extensive repair work while Chamberlain trained on a loaner.
Chamberlain has always been heavily involved in sport, representing Canterbury in netball at under-21 level and B level. She also swims and plays touch and volleyball.
But the seed for multisport was planted at a young age. The family home was in Norwood, on the outskirts of Christchurch, from where Chamberlain would watch competitors coming into the city on the way to the finish on Sumner Beach.
"I remember thinking that I'd like to be part of it one day," she said.
The journey into multisport blossomed two years ago, after her graduation from Christchurch Teachers' College and a posting at The Terrace School.
Multisport seemed to be what everyone in the area was doing so, under the eye of seasoned campaigner Bill Godsall, she began training for the half ironman in last year's Challenge Wanaka. She finished 11th in the competitive women's 18-29 section in a respectable 6hr 4min 8sec.
Chamberlain then considered returning for this year's event and contesting the full ironman course, but discounted this when she turned her attention back to her childhood dream of competing in the Coast to Coast.
No stranger to the Coast course, Godsall devised a training schedule for Chamberlain, which she has balanced while learning to kayak and achieving a grade two certificate in the discipline in order to compete.
An added bonus was that while achieving her kayaking certificate, she was not alone.
Among others registering for their first assault on New Zealand's premier multisport challenge and requiring the same qualification were fellow teacher Aimee Keenan, from Cromwell, and Keenan's sisters, Hayley and Laura, from Gore, along with Nicky Kelland (Clyde).
Chamberlain said time management was the key to preparing for the Coast to Coast.
"It's been a matter of balancing all the work at school and fitting my training around it," she said.
When Chamberlain lines up on Kumara Beach in the early hours of Friday, February 10, to begin the two-day individual event, the goal will be to keep it simple.
"I'm hoping to be able to do it comfortably, and just get to the end," she said.
"Time is not important."
