Buick finishes biggest race

Westpac Bank general manager Rob Buick competed in the biggest race of his life at the weekend when he took on the Taupo Half Ironman on Saturday.

Buick trained under the guidance of one of the island’s top triathletes, Vanessa Palmer, and shed a whopping 25kg before the race.

Buick raced in the men’s 40 to 44 age group over the 2km swim, 90km cycle and 21km run course.

He lined up with 431 other keen triathletes to tackle that race which he had hoped to finish around the 6 hour mark and his final result wasn’t far off.

Buick completed the 2km swim leg in 37 minutes and 57 seconds and the 90km cycle in 3 hours and 5 minutes.

He finished the 21km run leg in 2 hours and 28 minutes for a total finish time of 6 hours 24 minutes and 27 seconds.

Buick came 306th overall and 46th in his age category.

The other Cook Islands athletes that competed at the half ironman was Jeff Cook who raced in the 60 plus men’s division.

Cook finished the race in a time of 7:33:36 to place 395 overall and 9th in his age division.

The winner of the race was Auckland man Terenzo Bozzone who finished the race in 4 hours 6 minutes and 40 seconds – 10 seconds ahead of second place getter Matt Burgess from Papakura.

Another group of Cook Islands triathletes including top triathletes Vanessa Palmer and Kelly Pick plus Taki Anaru, Pare Tangata, Apii Napa and Rangi Apera are going through their final preparations ahead of the Tauranga Half Ironman, which also has a 2km swim, 90km cycle and 21km run course, scheduled for January 8.

No doubt Buick’s results will inspire the next group of Cook Islanders ahead of their big race.