Posted: February 17, 2005

Triathlon: Lawn back home to chase Bonita Ironman NZ record

Kiwi triathlete Joanna Lawn has turned her back on the United States as she looks to further her burgeoning career.

Lawn has been awarded top seed for next month’s Bonita Ironman New Zealand triathlon in Taupo where she will attempt to become the first female to win the title three times in a row.

Following her breakthrough fifth placing in October’s Ironman World Championship in Hawaii, Lawn has moved from her Colorado base with husband Armando Galarraga to home back in Auckland.

She believes New Zealand offers the best base to build on her career, with a third straight win in Taupo on March 5 the major aim.

"I think the training environment is great back here in New Zealand and after so long away it’s nice to be back here,’’ Lawn said. ``We’ve been based down in Taupo for the last month and the training there has been fantastic.’’

Lawn knows she will have some tough international competition including two-time Ironman winner Bella Comerford (GBR) and outstanding American Monica Caplan for next month’s battle. Some of the steam for leading Kiwi evaporated with injuries forcing forcing three top New Zealanders out of the event. The 2002 champion Karyn Ballance, last year’s runner-up Lynley Allison and Taupo’s talented Fiona Docherty have all withdrawn.

Ballance has not recovered from an injury in finishing second in Ironman Western Australia, Allison has a troublesome hip problem while Docherty, third in her Ironman debut behind Balance, suffered a stress fracture last week.

"As you can imagine, I am really disappointed particularly given I felt my training was right on track and I was happy with my progress,’’ Docherty said. ``But this is one of those situations where I have to take the advice of specialists and make decisions that are in long-term interests of my career.’’

Most of the focus will now go on the international competition, and in particular training partners Comerford and Caplan. The pair met when they joined coach Brett Sutton, both concentrating on the Olympic distance events. Comerford moved to the endurance distances first with immediate success with wins at Embrunman and Ironman Florida twice to her credit along with second in Florida last year and third at Ironman Lanzarote.

Caplan is a former US College swim star who moved to the longer distances after suffering from a serious bike accident during training for the frantic draft-legal Olympic distance events. She moved back to her home in Boulder, joined later by Comerford, with the pair now coached by the legendary Dave Scott, the six-time Ironman World Champion. She won the Auckland Half Ironman last month ahead of Comerford.

Auckland-based Yoko Hori brings winning form to the race after her breakthrough win in Ironman Japan last year and with four top-10 finishes in New Zealand to her credit.

Australian Susan Peter is another Ironman winner in the field, having won in Malaysia and has never been out of the top seven in any of her previous 10 Ironman outings.

Waikato University-based Brit Jess Draskau-Petersson returns after she came out of the woodwork with a remarkable sub-3hr marathon to jump to fifth in Taupo last year, and went on to place third in Ironman Austria with another superb run.

There will be plenty of interest in the Ironman debut for American Andrea Ratkovic who has had an injury plagued career. However she has a 2hr 34min marathon to her credit, was twice an Olympic triallist on the bike, is a four-time US duathlon champion and now turned her attention to triathlon.

The men’s field also suffered a blow with Australian champion Jason Shortis withdrew after troublesome injury has not healed in time to complete a full training schedule.

The female seeds for the Bonita Ironman New Zealand in Taupo on March 5 are:

1. Joanna Lawn (NZL)
2. Bella Comerford (GBR)
3. Yoko Hori (NZL)
4. Monica Caplan (USA)
5. Jess Draskau-Petersson (GBR)
6. Susan Peter (AUS)
7. Naomi Imaizumi (JAP)
8. Andrea Ratkovic (USA)
9. Paula Salazar (CHL)

The race website is at: www.ironman.co.nz.