U.S. circuit vital for Erin Baker

Press, 15 May 1985, Page 46

U.S. circuit vital for Erin Baker

By

KEVIN TUTTY

Americans have made the triathlon popular and because of the outstanding success of their competitors in the sport, they lay claim, rightly or wrongly, to possessing the world’s best.

Scott Molina, because of his consistency over short, middle and long distance races, can justifiably be labelled the world’s best male competitor. Women’s competitions are a different matter though. The San Diego-based Canadian twins, Sylviane and Patricia Puntous have, for a year, been regarded as the world’s best pair because of their success in the Honolulu triathlon last October where they finished first and second respectively.

Last month the sisters had the claim to being the world’s best uncompromisingly swept away from them by a 23-year-old Christchurch woman, Erin Baker, in the inaugural Tooheys Great Lakes triathlon.

Baker breezed through the gruelling race in 9 hours 53 minutes 45 seconds. She finished 40min 51s ahead of the runner-up, Patricia Puntous, and beat by 31min 28s the previous best time by a woman for a 3.Bkm swim, 180 km cycle ride and 42km run. It had been set by Sylviane Puntous when she won the women’s section of the Hawaii race last year.

Baker achieved another milestone in her success at Forster on the central New

South Wales coast. She became the first woman to better nine hours for a full distance triathlon.

Naturally, Baker was delighted with her success. She had beaten the women regarded as the best triathletes in the world and pocketed $lB,OOO.

The prize-money enabled her to “pay off some debts” she had incurred while training for the Australian event for three months in Christchurch. It has also given her financial security as she prepares to launch herself into the professional triathlon circuit.

She might have beaten the Puntous twins comprehensively in Australia, but until she can repeat the drubbing in the United States, Baker knows that she will not be regarded too seriously by the Americans. Meeting the Americans on their home courses is not going to be easy for Baker. She has had visa applications turned down several times by the United States Government because of a conviction dating back to 1981 and the protests against the Springbok rugby tour.

The American triathlon circuit — there are expected to be more than 2000 of the events throughout the country this year — has started and Baker would be competing against the best now if she was able to obtain a visa. In 1981 Baker was amongst a group of protesters outside the Rutherford Hotel in Nelson where the Springbok team was staying. Baker was charged with disorderly behaviour as a result of the protest. A month later she received notification that the charge had been altered, and she was charged with throwing a fish stunning device, a tuna bomb. Baker was later convicted, although she still vehemently denies she threw the device, one of several thrown during the protest. She believes that because her mother was a prominent member of the anti-tour movement in Christchurch she was singled out by the police.

“I had two witnesses to say I didn’t throw the

device, but the police had 26 who all had the same story. How can you beat that?” The United States Embassy in Wellington virtually gave Baker little hope of ever 1 receiving a visa when she first applied last year, because of the seriousness of the charge on which she was convicted. Since then they have said that the issue of a visa would be at their discretion. Meanwhile she has her manager, based in Sydney, and friends within the United States, working on her behalf. A letter has also been written to Senator Edward Kennedy making a plea for a visa on her behalf. Baker does not regret her stance on the 1981 tour. “I do regret being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” she said of her conviction. Attempting to gain entry to the United States as an individual, rather than a member of a national team, makes her situation more difficult, Baker believes. “Members of New Zealand teams with convictions have gained entry to the United States. I was honest and went through the right channels and was turned down.” While she waits for an outcome on her visa applications Baker is spending her time training for two prestigious triathlons in Europe later this year. On August 18 she will compete in the European championship in the Netherlands with another Christchurch triathlete, John Hellemans. It will be a full triathlon — 3.Bkm swim, 180 km bike ride and 42km run.

Two months later she will compete in the Nice triathlon, regarded as one of the major events in the world. It is shorter in distance with a 3.Bkm swim, 100 km bike ride and 30km run. Only four months ago Baker said she would not compete in the longer triathlons, but she has since been convinced by her manager that she must enter at least some of them. He told her that she should attempt the Honolulu Ironman, regarded by the Americans as the world championship. Provided she

can obtain a visa in time to enter a qualifying event in the United States, she hopes to be able to start in this year’s event two weeks after the Nice event.

“I would enter the event, but would not necessarily compete. If I got there and found it was incredibly hot I would withdraw.” Baker faces a difficult battle to gain international recognition as a leading triathlete. “Unless you can beat the Americans in America they don’t want to know you. They just say they had a bad day if you beat them.” Besides the Puntous twins she has beaten another leading American, Colleen Cannon. She finished 12 minutes ahead of Cannon over a short course in Sydney early this year. Competing as a professional requires a considerable amount of organisation and Baker now has a manager in Sydney who arranges her races. In spite of her outstanding accomplishment in Australia the offers for starts in events overseas are not flowing in.

She gained entry to the Nice event by winning a race in Queensland last year. Baker has one sponsor, Air New Zealand, to whom she is extremely grateful. Even though the win in Australia helped immensely, Baker has heavy financial commitments to compete on the professional circuit. The bicycle she normally uses is worth $2OOO.

For the Tooheys race she had the loan of a French made bicycle worth $4OOO. She would dearly have loved to keep the machine.

“The difference was like driving in a Mini compared with a Rolls Royce. The bike was very light and the response incredible. It had silk tyres with 1301bs pressure. A normal racing tyre has 301bs pressure.” She hopes eventually to obtain one of these machines, but in the meantime, it costs her several thousand dollars a year for other essential equipment. Baker has one competitive race planned before she leaves for Europe in three months. She will run in the Christchurch City half marathon at Queen’s Birthday Week-end.