Monday, March 3, 2014

Kona - Here I Come!

OK, sorry, but the blog entries are going to be slightly out of order...

Normally you'd be reading a race report from Ironman New Zealand about now.  However I'm going to throw this one in now without keeping things chronological because this update is HUGE!

And anyone who is friends with me, or St Pete, on Facebook will know exactly what I'm talking about, as will anyone who was at the Ironman New Zealand awards dinner last night when Leigh and I were screaming the hall down.

Yep, this update is all about Kona 2014.  Irongirl will be there.  On the start line.  With the best in the world.  Who would have thought....

SH*T!!!!!

It's not a huge secret that this has been a long term goal of mine.  Kona is the holy grail of ironman triathlon.  It's where it all started and it's where the best of the best desire to be each October.  For age group athletes there are a few ways of qualifying to go.  The most common way is to win a slot through winning or placing in your age group at one of the ironman events around the world.  The slots are few and far between, highly competitive and awarded via a combination of slot allocation and then a "roll down" process that I won't get into here.

The second way is via a couple of lotteries.  There is the general lottery, where you can pay approx US$50 to get an entry into the draw each year from which 100 spots are randomly drawn.  Then there is a legacy lottery, which allocates another 100 spots worldwide.  This second lottery is dedicated to the average everyday passionate ironman athlete to provide them with a once in a lifetime chance to compete on the famous lava fields.  To enter this one you have to have had 12 Ironman finishes and have never competed at Kona before.  This second lottery is the one I have been working towards - it seemed the most realistic way for me to get to Kona and completion of Ironman New Zealand on Saturday got me halfway there with finish #6 ticked off.

However all that changed last night.

This year was the 30th anniversary of Ironman New Zealand and, to celebrate the occasion, and for the first time ever in the history of Ironman, a loyalty lottery was created - just for New Zealand.  This lottery provided 10 slots to Kona for Ironman New Zealand entrants in 2014 (These were over and above the 50 regular slots allocated to the age groups).  To be in for the loyalty lottery we just had to register and the loyalty part was about receiving one entry for every Ironman New Zealand finish you had.  So my finishes in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 gave me four entries into the lottery and I was keen as to be in to win this opportunity.  Oh, and you had to be at the awards dinner last night to accept the slot and pay your entry fee.

So Leigh, Paul and I were at the dinner and I had credit card with me but trying not to think about it all too much as this was a lottery afterall, and what would the chances be.  In fact Leigh was getting more nervous/excited about it than I was.  We had finished off a great meal and sat through a few speeches when Mike Reilly asked all the age group podium finishers to go and line up along the side of the hall so they could get ready for those presentations to be made.

While that was being organised he then announced they were going to draw the loyalty lottery.  And up on the stage were 10 leis, one would be given to each winner.

Andrew Messick, the CEO of WTC (World Triathlon Corporation, the owners of Ironman) came onto the stage and did the draw and it was pretty exciting seeing the first few names being drawn out and recipients coming up.  A couple of really memorable moments came when Mike Ramsay, the only person to have completed all 30 IMNZ events got drawn out, as did Ron Skelton, a 27-time finisher.  I found out later that neither have competed at Kona before, so it was fantastic to see them get a spot.

We got to the 9th name to come out of the barrel and Mike Reilly starts saying "Toni Hodge".  I think I took a couple of micro-seconds for it to register but before he had finished uttering my name Leigh was already screaming with excitement.  She screamed, I screamed, we both jumped up and hugged each other across the table - never mind all the bottles and glasses between us - and then I ran, yes - RAN (!) down the side of the hall to the stage.  Along the side  were the age group podium winners lined up ready for their presentations and a few of them stood out and high-fived me as I ran past them screaming.  It was like running down the finish chute all over again.

I got to the stage, ran up the stairs and hugged Mike Reilly.  Turned around and there was Andrew Messick, who had drawn my name out, and gave him a big hug as well.  He put the lei on before I turned back to Mike, gobsmacked, who then laughingly asked me if I wanted to go to Kona, to which I said "Hell, yes!".  And then he asked who I was there with and all I could say was "Leigh and Paul!". I was so excited I couldn't think straight and I must have looked like I had just won a million dollars.  

Instead I had simply won the right to fork over US$825 and go play in the ironman sandpit with best in the world in the heat and wind of Kailua-Kona, Hawaii in October.

SH*T!! 

WOOHOO!!

On the other side of the stage, when I came off, was Terenzo Bozzone, one of New Zealand's top iron and half iron distance triathletes, and I think he was waiting to congratulate me.  Well, it didn't matter if he wasn't - he got a huge hug from me as well! 

In the meantime Leigh was phoning St Pete in Sydney but because of the noise in the hall wasn't going to be able to hear him very well, so it was a one-sided conversation that went something like this:
LEIGH:  "Don't say anything, just listen, pack your bags - YOU'RE GOING TO KONA!!!"

His response when he got to message me a couple of minutes later?

"Holy Sh*t!"

Couldn't have said it better myself...


3 comments:

  1. So pleased for you- you have worked so hard for this. I can remember all those years ago when you started out with fun runs. Looking forward to all the posting along the way to Kona.

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  2. "Holy Sh_t!" Congratulations Toni well done, Margaret

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  3. Totally Awesome!
    Congratulations! :)
    Daniel

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