BRETT Weick knew what he was getting into at Ironman Kona.
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But nothing prepared him for being faced with gale-force headwinds for almost 60 kilometres in the middle of his first event in Hawaii.
And to make matters even better, he was pleased with his result.
“I’ve said it to a few people that if I’d been offered the time that I did the day before the race I’d have taken it, but I was pretty unhappy with how I ran,” he said.
“The whole experience was awesome, that’s the only way to describe it.”
He said he knew it was about to get windy when he headed out past the airport on the bike.
“We got about 30 kilometres into the ride and they always say when you come past the airport heading out of town if you look out to the ocean and see white caps you know you’re in for a windy day,” he said.
“We came over that hill and all we saw were whitecaps and I thought here we go. 10 kilometres later the wind just hit and then for the next 55-60 kilometres it was straight into our faces.”
One of the highlights of his time was swimming in the crystal clear, blue water.
“Swimming in the water there is probably one of the most amazing things I’ve ever done in my life,” he said.
“The first swim we did, when you looked down you saw that the water was so alive.
“You’re swimming in five or six metre-deep water and you can see the bottom.”
Weick was matter-of-fact when asked what his main memory was of Kona.
“I’ve got a lot of work to do,” he said.