Professional triathlete Scott Harpham has linked with legendary Carterton swimming coach Russell Geange to improve his times in his weakest discipline.
Harpham finished seventh in his most recent event, the Tauranga Half Ironman [70.3] on January 21. He clocked three hours, 53 minutes and seven seconds, about 15 minutes behind winner Braden Currie.
Although that was one place down on his sixth in December’s Taupo 70.3 race, the Carterton triathlete felt it was a better performance in a strong field.
“This time, I put in a solid four or five weeks training, even through Christmas, and then made a few adjustments to race strategy and centred fully on race day. I’m happy with what I got out of myself,” Harpham said.
However, the first leg, the 1.9km swim, again proved to be the 30-year-old’s Achilles heel, coming out of the water in 27min 28sec, and second to last of the professionals.
He believes that improving his swim times will better position him for a strong bike ride and will also benefit the run.
“I closed the gap by about a minute on the rest of the field, which was good, but there’s still plenty of work to do hence why I have joined up with Russell Geange in the swim squad here in Carterton, and I will get my ass kicked for the rest of the year in trying to close that gap because that adds more time to your race than just the time difference in the swim.
“These races, even though they say they are non-drafting, you soon realise that in a 10- or 12-metre draft zone, you still get the benefit of being in the pack.
“I know where my bike and run are at. If I’m in a group with strong cyclists, I will hold my own – piece of cake – so that will cut down my bike time, and I know I can run with the majority of them based on my result in Tauranga.”
Harpham was satisfied with his times for the 90km cycle leg of 2hrs 06:22 and the half-marathon run of 1hr 16:57, similar times to several of his closest rivals.
“I was happy considering I biked the whole thing solo or the people I did pass never came through and shared the work, and my run time apart from Braden Currie – he did 1hr 13min and Jack Moody, who won Taupo did 1hr 14min, and then there was a big group of us who did 1hr 16min, so I’ve closed the gap on him [Moody] by six minutes basically.”
Harpham’s next event is on February 18, Challenge Wanaka, to be raced on a course that he feels will suit his strengths.
“The bike course is quite hilly in and around Wanaka, and the run course is two loops of the Glendhu mountain bike track — I’m actually really looking forward to that because that’s Wairarapa — wherever you go, you’ve got hills to run up.”
A fortnight after Challenge Wanaka, Harpham will contest the New Zealand Ironman in Taupo, his “main ‘A’ race of the summer”, although his eye is still firmly set further in the future.
“If I can keep closing the gap with those top guys each race, I will be a happy camper. It would be cool by the end of this year to be on the podium or be in hot contention and be pretty close to cracking that top 100 [in the world rankings].
“I know it’s still a long-term gain, and my progression has been pretty quick so far, but it’s just taking my time to get used to the whole race dynamics.”
