Tyre taken off with teeth

Press, 19 August 1985, Page 40

Tyre taken off with teeth

On the way to winning the European long course women’s championship near Amsterdam yesterday the Christchurch triathlete, Erin Baker, had to rip off a punctured tyre with her teeth. The event was contested during an electrical storm, and very strong winds. When Baker punctured during the 180 km cycling section her hands were too cold to remove the tyre.

She recorded the outstanding time of 9hr 26min 30s for the triathlon to finish an amazing Ihr 35min ahead of the next woman. She was placed seventh over all in a field of more than 500. She finished only 30min behind the first man.

The long course for the triathlon consists of a 3.Bkm swim, the cycling section, then a full marathon run (42.2 km Baker would almost certainly have broken her own world mark of 9:53:5 for the event, but the distance for the swim was reduced by a third because of the adverse conditions.

Baker, aged 23, told her family in a telephone call yesterday that she was extremely pleased with her performance, particularly in the cycling, where she made up many places. Among the other competitors were the top British women and the seventhranked American, Ardis Bow.