By Beckie Wilson
Greytown sportswoman Andrea Cowlam’s triathlon career will reach an all-time high when she represents New Zealand at the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in the Netherlands.
The event will be held in the port city of Rotterdam from September 14 to 17 and Mrs Cowlam will compete in the 30-34 age division.
Mrs Cowlam, who used to teach physical education at Chanel College, booked her ticket to Rotterdam by coming through a qualifying race at Scorching Bay, Wellington, last month.
This will be the first time she will be in New Zealand colours, but has competed in two New Zealand Ironman triathlons.
Mrs Cowlam, 33, has been a keen sportswoman since she began competitive swimming at secondary school.
Eventually, that progressed into running, and then cycling, and now competes in at national levels in triathlons.
“I’ve always done a bit of running, but then I won a trip to the Tour Down Under — a road cycle race in Adelaide — so I decided to start biking. Then I thought I should do triathlons,” she said.
She has been coaching endurance athletes professionally since 2006 and has the qualifications to back her up. She holds two Bachelor degrees — in physical education and commerce.
She is also a swim coach, accredited Triathlon NZ coach, a level one Bike NZ coach, and holds lifeguard and first aid qualifications.
Mrs Cowlam recently moved to Wellington with her husband and is a physical education teacher at Queen Margaret College.
As part of training, she manages to fit lunch time runs with her students.
Triathlon training had its advantages, she said.
“I found swimming training quite repetitive, so with triathlon training you don’t have to do the same thing each day.
“But I don’t normally do lots of training over winter, which will be challenging prepping for the race,” she said.
She said Wairarapa’s environment was the best for cycle training as the roads were quiet, especially at the back of Greytown and down to Martinborough.
