&AST TRACK MANY WROTE OFF KATE MCILROY’S RUNNING CAREER AFTER SHE PULLED OUT OF THE BEIJING OLYMPICS WITH AN ACHILLES INJURY. BUT ONLY BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T KNOW HER. BACK IN A NEW SPORT, THE TRIATHLETE IS IN A RACE TO MAKE THE 2012 LONDON OLYMPICS. AND SHE’S WINNING BY NIKKI MACDONALD

t’s days like these that make Kate McIlroy wonder what the hell she’s Older brother Sam sums up her chances of making the triathlon team The most horrific was the shock treatment also tried by All Black Ali Then she got serious, joining a swim squad and calling in national ABOVE In a new doing. It’s nine degrees and a characteristically miserable southerly for the 2012 London Olympics: “If Kate wants to go she will go. I know she’s Williams. Her foot was held for 45 minutes against a water-filled bubble triathlon coach Fraine, who’d seen her potential at Wellington Harriers. race: runner- is barrelling straight from Antarctica up Wellington’s Ohiro Road, determined enough to do it.” sending out deep vibrations. “It was honestly like torture. I was squirming Even he never anticipated the speed of her success. turned-triathlete which runs south-north from sea to city. around. I said ‘I actually don’t think I can handle this’. It was just the most The goal was for McIlroy to race in her age group national Kate McIlroy. The mountain-running champion turned triathlete has spent the IT’S BEEN an extraordinary 18 months for the 2005 World Mountain intense, horrific pain.” championships last summer, spend winter working on her swimming and Photo: Ipast half hour battling around the bays from her Hataitai home, fearing a Running Champion and Halberg Sportswoman of the Year. It was a And it made no difference. So that was that. Out of the Olympics. Out consider racing overseas in 2010. Instead the rookie placed second, third Kent Blechynden rogue gust would flip her featherweight race bike. Now she pushes off for shadow of that jubilant runner that limped off Wellington’s Newtown of running. And out of cash – all her sponsors pulled their support when and fourth in Contact National Tri Series races and contested the elite the first of three 9km hill repetitions. It’s the first time in her training life athletics track in agony in May 2008 to make the hardest decision she pulled out of Beijing. A tragic end to a promising career. Or so everyone national championships in March, coming third. that she’s biked more slowly downhill – the head wind cuts 10km/h from of her life. Despite having easily run the qualifying time, an Achilles thought. But they didn’t know Kate McIlroy. Asked if she ever considered She joined the triathlon squad training in Germany and Boulder, her 30km/h uphill speed and rips blonde wisps from her sleek helmet. problem that’s plagued her since school finally killed her Beijing dream. giving up and moving on, she sounds surprised. “It never even crossed my Colorado, for three-and-a-half months and won her first international race And there’s no shirking. A bike computer records speed, distance and “I thought, ‘This is ridiculous’. My training hadn’t really had any good mind. I knew if I got my legs right I could run fast.” in a third-tier field. By halfway through the season she’d won a second- power through the wheels, to be relayed to coach Greg Fraine. “It was quality in it for at least a year. I got to the stage where it was just horrifically She started swimming as a distraction, to ward off self-pity. She’d swum tier race, and she finished 12th in the World Championships on the Gold hideous,” McIlroy says bluntly, her slight frame now safely tucked into a sore when I was running. I said, ‘I’ve just got to get this right’. It was really, competitively as a youngster, but pulled out at 13, when training increased Coast, ending the season ranked 20th in the world. couch corner in the home she shares with fiance John Curtis. really hard. When I look back on it now it was a dark period. It was the fact to twice daily. “Where she is right now is probably where I would have seen her in The reason she plugs on is the same reason the 28-year-old has that I had run the time and I knew I should be there. I was pretty down.” Triathlons were a natural progression. Her mother, Jan McIlroy, 2011,” Fraine says. “She’s a racer. She just loves competing. Nothing daunts rebounded from the apparently career-ending injury that shattered her McIlroy had wanted it so desperately she’d tried every imaginable remembers Kate’s first triathlon at Wellington’s Scorching Bay a year ago. her at all. She basically ticked off each level in one event.” hopes of running the 3000m steeplechase at last year’s Beijing Olympics, treatment, including a therapist who had worked with broken-down horses “She had a borrowed mountain bike with fat tyres. She didn’t know what Curtis and her mother steer clear of the sometimes moody McIlroy to switch sports and rocket to a top-20 international ranking in her first “unravelling” her twisted limbs. She laughs now but: “At the time you think, she was doing. I think she spent half an hour in transition deciding what before races. But once the starter’s gun fires, nothing fazes her. “She season. She just doesn’t do ‘no’ or ‘can’t’. ‘This could work’.” T-shirt to wear. But she had fun.” handles race situations so well it’s unbelievable,” Fraine says.

6 your weekend NOVEMBER 28, 2009 NOVEMBER 28, 2009 your weekend 7 home for a Boulder motel with 10 young There were other important motivations, testosterone-pumped blokes and one shared her mother remembers. She was “absolutely kitchenette also took some adjustment. blown away” by running legend Florence McIlroy’s iPod is stacked with dance music. Griffith Joyner’s Lycra shorts and flashy digits. “I feel like I’m 21. I was blasted, immersed in “That was the next must-have. She started their music for four months. But it’s quite painting her toenails, using felt pens. So good to train to. she’d paint her nails and put on these Lycra “We definitely had our moments. Next shorts and say ‘I’m off for a little run’.” year they’re going to enforce a two-week A couple of years into harriers training, break between America and Europe.” when interclub events started, McIlroy got a The year’s triumphs have been marred by taste for winning, Sam says. “She never really tragedy. While the couple were on holiday looked back. No-one could really compete in Taupo in January, Curtis was driving the with her. Every race she went in she won. speedboat that ran over and killed nine-year- She’s a very determined freakish person.” old waterskier Genevieve Lewis. McIlroy had It’s a trait handed down from father planned to go out wakeboarding that day, but Rob, a GP and talented runner who played opted to train instead. competitive hockey. In the end Sam gave Curtis says the emotions of the day are up running – McIlroy says it was when she ABOVE Kate at home The secret is the troll. McIlroy’s a touch never far away. With the legal ramifications started beating him. And she fashioned her with her golden superstitious after copping a hockey stick to still pending, McIlroy faced the difficult own reputation, reversing that annoying, “Are retriever, Bella. the jaw on Friday the 13th, aged 18, losing decision between staying home to support you Sam McIlroy’s sister” refrain. Photo: Kent Blechynden four front teeth. They’re now fixed on titanium Curtis and travelling to train. “I wasn’t going When she finished school at Samuel posts, but one broke so she has a temporary to go away because it was obviously a really Marsden Collegiate in 1999, McIlroy was plate that’s removed for racing. “When I won in hard time for Johnny. Horrific. It was hard for already planning her Olympics debut. “I Hungary I got to the finish line and of course me knowing what Johnny was going through thought, well, Sydney Olympics are next you have to smile. There’s this terrible photo and not being able to be there.” year. You know when you’re young and a of me trying to smile with my mouth closed.” But Curtis encouraged her to go – feeling bit naive. I was obviously way off the mark. So when the 13-year-old McIlroy triumphed bad enough about the accident, he didn’t I sat at home watching them thinking ‘I’m in the company of her hideous pink-haired want to also shoulder responsibility for definitely going to be at the next ones’, which punk troll, it became a permanent good luck ruining McIlroy’s career prospects. In July he was Athens.” charm. “You take it to a race the first time was fined $3000 and ordered to pay $20,000 She kept running while studying for a you run well and you’re convinced that was in reparations for using a boat dangerously. commerce degree at Victoria University, because of the troll. That’s it, the troll has to The pair got engaged when McIlroy came dropping law because she couldn’t fit it into go to every race. It actually got forgotten for a home for her birthday between Europe and the training schedule. But the Achilles pain few years, but it’s come back out.” the World Championships. It wasn’t the most had already started. And it just got worse. McIlroy admits the code change romantic of proposals: “I was about to get into She ran through the pain, winning the hasn’t always been easy, and she massively the shower, still in my running gear, looking world mountain running championships in underestimated the triathlon workload, which lovely I’m sure. Johnny just strolled into the Wellington in 2005 and taking fifth in the was triple her running schedule. Fortunately bathroom and proposed. It was very random 3000m steeplechase at the 2006 Melbourne Curtis, also an estate agent, obligingly cooks and very casual but quite funny.” Commonwealth Games. meals between training sessions so she McIlroy’s stellar year comes as little surprise As friends disappeared to London to work, doesn’t take the lazy cereal option. to those who know her. Curtis warns against she pounded the track looking for a ticket to Spending almost four months carting a Monopoly: “The psycho-ness comes out”. Beijing. But it wasn’t to be. She has no regrets. bike box on and off trains and trading a lovely Even her mother remembers an incredibly She gets to travel, and retains a reasonable determined young girl. “My youngest son, work-life balance. She’s a mad cake baker and Chris, I don’t think he would play a board game allows herself a few wines with friends. with her now. She’s incredibly competitive, She’s already making a living from her A DAY IN THE LIFE OF KATE McILROY even draughts. Even tiddlywinks. newfound sport – with a Triathlon NZ squad 6am Up and out by 6.10, for a 30-minute run around the bays “Anyone in their right mind would not be retainer, a $25,000 grant for her top-16 world with Curtis and back up to their home on the hill. still doing it after the problems she’s had. I championship placing and prize money. 7am Pool swim for 90 minutes (about 4500m), usually with really admire her. She’s really focused.” But her goal of a medal at London in 2012 training partner Martin Van Barneveld. McIlroy was sidekick to sporty brother is still a long way off. She needs to pick up 9ish Breakfast: big bowl of cereal with fruit and yoghurt on top. Sam, who played hockey for Otago and her running training, which could jeopardise Coffee, made in a stovetop espresso maker from freshly ground cricket for Wellington. She started running her injury progress. And triathlon is one of coffee beans: “I love my coffee.” at seven. Sam’s hockey was cancelled and the New Zealand’s strongest sports. There are 9.30 30-minute power nap: “Waking up at 6am takes its toll.” family was walking the dogs in the town belt five credible contenders for London’s three 11am Bike around the bays to the South Coast, three hill when a bunch of kids ran by. Inspired, Sam possible spots. would be a shoo- repetitions up Ohiro Rd and back down into the southerly, and decided to join the Wellington Harriers. By in on this year’s form, having finished third in back home (1hour, 40 minutes and about 45km all up). the second week Kate decided she didn’t want the world. McIlroy was the third of the Kiwis, 1pm Lunch: If she’s lucky Curtis will have whipped up a frittata. to miss out. She’s been running ever since. behind , but Sam Warriner and Otherwise it’s more cereal. Kate and Sam, two years her senior, could also step up. 2pm-4pm Catch up on emails, tune in to Juice TV or take three- became running buddies. Rain, hail or shine But they’ll have to want it as much as year-old golden retriever Bella walking or swimming. She takes after they would race each other around the bays. McIlroy, and match her steely determination her master – her back leg’s shaved after surgery for a ruptured “I was a little bit stronger, but she would to win. Jan McIlroy: “She was given (karaoke anterior cruciate ligament, but she’s itching to get back out. always keep up,” Sam says. “She was always game) Sing Star about a year ago. She has 4.30pm Another run, for about an hour. keen to go out, even when I wasn’t. She was no singing voice but apparently she wins fairly motivated.” every time”. 97

8 your weekend NOVEMBER 28, 2009