A New Attitude Towards Life - It All Started With the Kapiti Women's Triathlon

As a child growing up in swindon in the UK I avoided exercise like the plague. I was overweight at five years old, so it just seemed too hard to keep up with other kids my age. As I was growing up I joined the gym a few times and took a few aerobics classes, but it never held my interest for very long and I would gradually lapse back into couch potato mode.


Name: Rosemarie Begbie
Age Group: 50-54
Home: Kapiti Coast, Wellington

When we decided to emigrate to Kapiti, NZ in 2006, I knew it would be life changing, but didn’t realise quite how much my life was going to change for the better.

In 2010 at the grand age of 46, I realised that I needed to make some changes. My six year old son had been diagnosed with Familial hypercholesterolemia, meaning that even with a controlled diet he would be at increase risk of a stroke or heart attack. The best way to alleviate the health risks was to increase exercise levels. I knew that I couldn’t expect him to exercise if I wasn’t doing any myself. Time to step up and become a role model!

Around about the same time I became aware of the Kapiti women’s triathlon and it really piqued my interest. The Kapiti women’s triathlon (KWT) is a very inclusive triathlon that has been running for over 30 years. They believe that any woman that makes it to the start line is a winner and their slogan is ‘Inspire, motivate, participate’.

I got together with a couple of my friends and we entered as a team and started to fundraise for a poorly little girl. Because of the fundraising, there was no way we were going to back out and let people down. By default I was down for the swim leg as the other girls weren’t keen on the idea of an open water swim.  

On the day of the event I was absolutely terrified, as I wasn’t a particularly good swimmer. It didn’t help that there was a tsunami warning that morning and I was half hoping that the event would be cancelled. Anyway, the event went ahead and the fear turned to exhilaration when I finished my swim section. Then we went off to the finish line in the park to cheer on our team mates.

The atmosphere in the park was electric, with all of the women there cheering everyone over the finish line. There were athletes of all shapes, sizes, ages and abilities and it was so inspiring! By the time prize giving had finished I had made up my mind that I would be back again next year.

Each year KWT arranges for Lynley Brown who is an amazing triathlon coach to provide some training for the contestants in the run up to the event. In the first year, I was too nervous to go to the training as I was worried that I would slow everyone down.  when I started going along in the second year, I really found my niche and discovered a passion for triathlon. Lynley provided lots of invaluable tips and hands on experience and I met a wonderful group of women that are my inspiration and that I now train with regularly.

I try to train six days a week, though it has to fit around family obligations. I normally alternate the swim bike and run through the week meaning that I get to do two sessions of each with the occasional brick session thrown in. I used to hate the run discipline, but these days it is my favourite and there’s nothing I like better than a good sprint finish.

At an event, I’m more interested in cheering on the ‘back of pack’ group rather than the elites as they are the ones that have to struggle through the extra hours in the heat of the day to finish an endurance event, long after the elites have finished. I really admire the tenacity and strength of mind shown by the athletes that are still coming in after the crowds have gone home.

In order to encourage other women to get involved in triathlon, a few of my triathlon friends and I set up the triaddix training group. We regularly set up free training opportunities for swimming, cycling and running and we keep everyone up to date with any events that are happening in our community as well as training and nutrition tips. My goal now is to arrange sponsorship for the triaddix group so that we can keep  encouraging other women to sign up to triathlon events or to come along to training as I love seeing other women go through the same positive changes that I have been through. My proudest moment was winning a star award at the KWT prize giving which is given out to participants that show great spirit, commitment, or have beaten the odds to participate.


Kapiti Duathlon Team Photo Rose 3rd from Left

My hardest ever race was the Quarter IronMaori. During the first few minutes of the swim I developed severe cramp in both legs (due to a magnesium and iron deficiency, I found out later),  I felt like I was drowning most of the way round. The cramps stayed with me for the rest of the race (and for 3 days after) and it took a lot of strength of mind to get through that race. I’m looking forward to going back and doing the quarter IronMaori again though as it would be good to race it properly rather than just trying to drag myself around and it has a wonderful atmosphere with some great people. That’s the thing I love most about this sport. The wonderful people that I meet and hearing about the feeling of kinship that seems to come with sharing this crazy sport.

I am also studying nutrition and am currently writing a book on endurance nutrition to help athletes create healthy homemade sports drinks bars, drinks and gels. Nutrition is key to a successful event and I don’t think that the existing gels and drinks are taking into account peoples dietary restriction and desire for a healthier lifestyle.

Since starting my training I have lost over 30kg and gained a lot of strength and confidence in my body. As a family we are much fitter with much healthier eating habits and we have also done family triathlons and 5kms together. Since that initial KWT I’ve now done 20+ triathlons/duathlons, 5 half marathons, and a couple of team half Ironman. This year I will be doing my first individual half Ironman at the Napier IronMaori on Saturday 6th December.

KWT will always be my favourite race though as it is an amazing event and it’s what got me started in this sport.

Next year I would love to do the erin Baker Award (involving 4 of Taupo’s big events) and I would like nothing better than to one day join some of the other age groupers representing NZ, but my only chance of that happening is if I’m still going strong in my seventies/eighties and finally manage to podium!

Originally published in New Zealand Triathlon & Multisport Issue 100, January 2015