Photos: Ironman Tri
By Kent Gray/Triathlon.kiwi
Rebecca Clarke hopes to be swept up by the patriotic home crowd support to sign off a nearly but not quite season in style at this weekend’s VinFast Ironman World Championships in Taupo.
The 36-year-old Aucklander enters the finale of the inaugural Ironman Pro Series season in 19th place in the overall standings but hasn’t yet put together a race in 2024 that he’s completely happy with.
A season best 5th at the Asia Pacific Championships at Ironman Cairns was the high around 13th, 15th and 22nd places respectively at Ironman Texas, 70.3 Zell am See-Kaprun and the full Ironman worlds in Nice.
“I’ve not had a race I’ve been completely happy with this year so having a strong performance across all three disciplines and crossing that line knowing I did everything I could in the race will be a great feeling,” said Clarke.
“It’s the last race of the year so it would be great to finish on a high. Also to perform well in front of family and friends who will be there supporting, and the home crowd will be special.
“This will likely be the one opportunity I have in my pro career to race a World Champs at home so I can’t wait to embrace the home support and performing well will mean a lot.”
Places 11-50 in the final standings all scoop US$5000 from the US$1.7 million Ironman Pro Series bonus prize pool and Clarke would like to snare more again with a top finish on race day.
“I’m expecting the race to be fast from the start with such a strong field, it’s going to be close and exciting racing.
“The bike course is part new, part old, and I think having a really strong bike will be important. With the hills, fast descents and our ‘rough’ chip, I think it will help to break up the field.
“It’s deceiving how much the bike in Taupō does take out of the legs so backing up with a strong run will be important too. I will be aiming to push the swim and be at the front, as that will help to be in a good position for the start of the bike, with such a large field it can be a bit chaotic.”
Clarke has experienced a world championships at home before but Saturday promises to be something different.
“I raced in 2012 the ITU Worlds as an age grouper and it was such a great experience, with the atmosphere, lots of friends racing plus the top athletes from around the world,” she said. “It’s great for triathlon in New Zealand to host such a big event again with the world’s best triathletes.
“It’s an amazing opportunity and a real privilege to get to race 70.3 World Championship in my home country and in the town where my long distance triathlon career started.
“It’s been a while coming since it was first set to take place in 2020, and I’ve been looking forward to it all year.”
Clarke, Hannah Berry and Hannah Knighton are the Kiwi’s in the women’s pro race that will take the gun at 7am on Saturday NZT. The men, including Kiwi stars Hayden Wilde, Kyle Smith, Braden Currie, Mike Phillips, Jack Moody, Ben Hamilton and Sam Osborne, goes at the same time on Sunday.
For those unable to attend live in Taupo, live coverage will be broadcast free across multiple platforms including proseries.ironman.com, YouTube and Sky Sport Now in New Zealand.
