Docherty unfazed by rookie status for IRONMAN World Championship

Three-time Olympian Bevan Docherty is unfazed by his rookie status when he competes in his first IRONMAN World Championship in Hawaii on Sunday (NZ time).

The 36 year old only arrived on The Big Island two days ago, but is not concerned about his late arrival to acclimatize to the unique climes of Kona-Kailua that usually attracts first timers several weeks before the race.

He is the only New Zealand male in the race while Wanaka’s Gina Crawford leads a trio of Kiwis in the women’s field along with Auckland’s Anna Ross and Nelson’s Britta Martin.

Docherty is hoping to emulate the feat of Kiwi legend Cameron Brown who is a three-time podium placegetter in triathlon’s toughest test, with the Ironman distance combined with the extreme heat and strong trade winds for the unique test in Kona-Kailua.

“I would have liked to have come over a month ago and prepared on the course but I am a family man now and I need a balance,” Docherty said.

“If I spend too much time away from my family it gets me down. I did not want to remove myself from that environment and was quite happy preparing at home in Santa Cruz.”

He planned to check out the course yesterday but felt quite relaxed about the weekend race, after he broke the course record in his IRONMAN debut at Taupo earlier this year.

“Ironman is still new to me. I have only done one so there is all the small stuff that I am still learning. But all the hard work is done. I can do very little now to change this. I am very fit and I am ready to go.”

Docherty believes his Olympic experiences will help to deal with the pressures of the occasion.

“An Olympics is the most nerve-wracking thing. There it is won or lost almost immediately. In this race you have eight and a half hours to rectify mistakes.

“I can only control myself. I’ve learned that I can only control the controllables. If I have a good race and have a bit of luck then you never know. I will be very happy with any race as long as it is mistake-free.”
Docherty is hoping he can be part of the continued remarkable run by athletes from down under, with Australians winning the last six men’s world championship titles.

They are led by defending champions Pete Jacobs and three time winner Craig Alexander. Other key contenders include IRONMAN 760.3 world champion Sebastian Kienle and fellow German Andreas Raelert, Belgium Marino Vanhoenacker, another ex Olympian in Eneko Llanos and fellow Spanish ITU convert Ivan Rana, while Europeans Dirk Bockel and Timo Bracht have long pedigrees of performance in Kona.

Crawford has enjoyed an outstanding build-up for Hawaii this year with a series of wins including in IRONMAN 70.3 Sunshine Coast last month alongside men’s winner and world champion Jacobs.

She is hoping that an improved schedule, with more time between her Ironman races, will help her improve on her best of seventh last year when she ran out of steam in the last 12kms on the run.

Americans dominate the women’s field with Mary Beth-Ellis the standout favourite from Ironman New Zealand champion Meredith Kessler with other strong candidates including former winners Leanda Cave (GBR) and Miranda Carfrae (Australia) and Swiss star Caroline Steffen.

The race begins at 5.30am (NZ time) on Sunday with the winner due around 2.30pm.

Details and live coverage: www.ironman.com