“Its great going into the event knowing what to expect with the heat so this year I am doing plenty of indoor workouts and having lots of saunas, there is not to much else I can do while training in the NZ winter”
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Apia will come to a standstill for the second time in two weeks, this time for the 2014 Samoa International Events Warrior Race.
Samoa is set to host our second Warrior / Half Ironman race with elite triathletes from New Zealand and Australia starting to arrive today to contest the Warrior Title on Saturday.
Leading the elites is Taupo triathlete Graham O’Grady who returns to defend his 2013 title. He is joined in the men’s race by
Australian pros Sam Betten (Brisbane) and Ollie Whistler (NSW).
Also returning to Samoa for the second year in a row are Auckland pro-athletes Stephen Farrell, Kerry Weeks and Jared Bowden.
The women’s field is led by Sarah Crowley of Brisbane.
Crowley finished third in last year’s Women’s race and is favourite to take out her first Samoan title.
She is joined in the Women’s pro-field by two kiwis Julia Grant and Jo Carrel, who returns for her second Warrior Race.
The Warrior Race / Half Iron distance involves a 2km swim, 90km bike and 21km run.
O’Grady told Samoa International Events that he was looking forward to returning to Samoa.
“I had such a great experience last year in Samoa that I couldn’t wait to return, and also with winning the inaugural race I want to come back and defend the title.”
O’Grady’s experience of Samoa last year gives him the edge over Betten and Whistler who are racing here for the first time.
He is also cautious about his Aussie competitors.
“Its great going into the event knowing what to expect with the heat so this year I am doing plenty of indoor workouts and having lots of saunas, there is not to much else I can go do while training in the NZ winter.”
“Those Ozzy’s are pretty handy at triathlon! With the heat you can’t rule out anyone in the field. Last year the run was so tough that I was worried about Sam (Warriner, women’s champion in 2013) catching me.”
Lining up in the Age Groups category are many of the New Zealanders and Australians returning for more of the atmosphere that made the first Samoa event last year very special. In that race the villages in Anoama’a East and West with a few Vaimauga villages such as Lauli’i went all out to support the Warrior Race.
The village support is there again this time with decorations and crowd support on race day.
SIE have also introduced a shorter race named Beat the Heat that has attracted a few more competitors this year. Beat the Heat is a 63km race with a 1km swim, 52km bike ride (to Falefa return) and a 10km run.
Samoa International Events director, Seti Afoa, explains that SIE needed to introduce a shorter distance in order to attract a few more people from overseas to the Event.
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