Local triathlete Sarah Reinertsen vows to return to the Ironman World Championship even though she was unable to finish this year's race held earlier this month in Hawaii.
"It wasn't exactly the race that I wanted, but I was still proud of my effort," Reinertsen said upon her return to California.
The Solana Beach resident was attempting to become the first above-the-knee amputee to finish the Ironman World Championship, which consists of a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run.
Reinertsen said she had a good swim, but she labored on the bike portion and came back to transition 14 minutes after bike cutoff.
"On my swim, I felt really good," said Reinertsen, whose swim time was 1 hour, 36 minutes, 21 seconds. "The first half went by very quickly, but the second half was tougher swimming into the current on the way back. But I got out of the water feeling really strong. Six minutes in transition, and I was off on the bike."
It was on the bike course where Reinertsen and the rest of the triathletes encountered stiff winds.
"The winds picked up early in the race at about 25 miles or so, and I fought them the whole time," Reinertsen said. "At times I was only going 5 mph. After the turnaround you expect to have the winds at your back to help make up time, but they only lasted for a few miles before the winds shifted again and it changed to another headwind on the way back.
"I saw the cutoff time slip past me as I hammered on those last remaining miles, but I maintained my strength and still pushed as hard as I could, even when I knew I wouldn't make it in time.
"I spent the last 30 miles of the bike vomiting as I pedaled, so I was too dehydrated to consider going out on the run."
Reinertsen will be working with other disabled athletes this weekend when the Challenged Athletes Foundation presents the 11th annual San Diego Triathlon Challenge, a half-ironman event that features elite professional and paralympic athletes in addition to local age-group participants. Sunday's event starts and finishes at La Jolla Cove, and Reinertsen will be one of the spin instructors for the Tour de Cove, featuring more than 100 stationary bikes.
Reinertsen says she plans to continue her training in the hope of a return visit to the Hawaii Ironman next October.
"I will definitely be going back to Kona for revenge next year," she vowed.
The top North County finishers at the Ironman World Championship were Heather Fuhr of Encinitas, the former world champion who finished third among the female pros with a time of 9 hours, 56 minutes, 19 seconds; and David Easa of Vista, who finished 38th out of 105 men in the male 25-29 age group with a time of 10:25:17, good for 221st overall from a field of 1,579 finishers.
Contact staff writer Rick Hoff at (760) 740-3545 or rhoff@nctimes.com.
