DEVASTATION IN CHRISTCHURCH

On February 22nd a 6.1 magnitude earthquake hit my hometown. A number of people lost their lives in the terrible destruction of the city. Buildings shook hard, many falling down, too many! My heart goes out to those who have lost someone close to them. It is horrific!!!!

Takapuna Triathlon

Hello,
This was my first race of the year and I definitely could feel it. The first thing I noticed was how hard I was breathing, I could feel my chest aching because of it - first sign of needing to slow down. I had a nice swim on Penny Hayes feet. I lost a few metres on the exit but managed to make it up getting onto the bike. However, I wasn't prepared for Nicky Samuels to attack me straight out of the first Uturn but she did. No one could follow her and we were left to chase for the entire bike. I was in a group of 4 with Vicky Holland of GBR complaining of cramp. Anyway, we started the run about 1min 5sec down. Impressive work by Nicky on the bike to lap almost the entire field! Vicky, Rebecca Kingsford and myself began to pull back some time on Nicky. By 3km, Vicky and I had caught her. That was when I needed to slow down, I finished in 2nd behind Vicky, and in front of Nicky in 3rd.

1st Vicky Holland GBR
2nd Andrea Hewitt NZL
3rd Nicky Samuels NZL

2011

Hi,

It's the start of a New Year and the start of a new season. I can reflect on 2010 and say 'it was a very good year' then I think about Budapest and say 'well, it could've had a massively better ending'.

I am happy with where I am now. I feel great training. It's refreshing to be back home in Christchurch. On the 19th December, I added in a draft legal shorter than sprint race to my offseason training. I won the 500m swim/15km bike/5km run local event and enjoyed the huge work put in by the Canterbury Triathlon Club to produce an ITU style event.

2011 is a big year. Triathlon New Zealand has named our Olympic Team selection race as the London World Championship Series round in August. And then there are loads more races this season for me to choose from, which I haven't decided on yet. I just know I will be racing a lot when the season starts.

My first change for 2011 is over in France. I am now a member of Poissy Triathlon. My previous club from the last 4 years, Beauvais Triathlon, decided to withdraw from the French Grand Prix Series. It was really unexpected as we had won the competition the past 2 years. My first race for Poissy in the blue and yellow strip will be on the 24th of April in Nice.

Next week, Laurent and I head down to Wanaka up to the Snowfarm. Contrary to it's name, there will be no snow because it's summertime.

Best wishes for the New Year. Forward and up in 2011.
Andrea