Sovereign Tri Wanaka Reaffirms Love of New Home for Canadian

12 January 2015

For immediate release from Triathlon New Zealand, for more information visitwww.triathlon.kiwi or www.sovereigntriseries.kiwi

Sovereign Tri Wanaka Reaffirms Love of New Home for Canadian Triathlete

New Zealanders can easily understand how you can ‘fall in love’ with Wanaka and the Central Otago region but every now and then we need a cross-border ‘love’ story to reaffirm just how good we have it in the place we call Godzone.

Triathlete Krystyna Glavinovic is one of those stories. The former suburbanite of Montreal has been living in Wanaka for a little over three years and can’t see herself anywhere else in the world and says it is events such as the Sovereign Tri Series Wanaka in six days from now that remind her of just how good she has it in her new surroundings.

“I first visited in 2010 for about three months and I made the move permanent October 2011. Wanaka and I guess the South Island is just so different from what I am used to, it is just so quiet and the scenery is just spectacular. You can find these things in Canada – mainly on the West coast, but here the climate is better, it is just so beautiful.”

Glavinovic will compete in the standard distance event at the Sovereign Tri Wanaka race on Sunday 18 January, an event that has the catch phrase ‘It’ll take your breath away’, and for this 26 year old that has certainly been the case.

“I lived in the city all my life, I didn’t know anything else until I left Montreal when I was 19 to move to Melbourne - to what was another big city. The next move was quite the opposite here to Wanaka, the middle of nowhere, in this tiny country with not many people- that is what I love the most, it is quiet and beautiful. Until then I lived from house to house in between shopping malls!”

Along with the move has come a concentration on her love of triathlon, something that only really got underway once she had made the move down under.

“I had started triathlon just before moving to Melbourne and then New Zealand but it was pretty limited, you couldn’t cycle in winter so had three months only on the bike a year, I ran a little and taught myself how to swim when I was 18 but it was ad-hoc and haphazard and I was at the back of races. In Melbourne and finally in New Zealand I fell head over heels in love with the sport.

“My first full distance was Challenge Wanaka in 2011, I have done four more including one more Challenge and I will race again this year. I love the half – I have done about 13 of these, for me it is just a matter of getting better and making my weakness my strength – that is cycling, and just going for it.”

Glavinovic is giving herself the best chance to be successful, she is coached by Wanaka elite triathlete and world number 5 Nicky Samuels and works part time for the moment to fuel her desire to train and race.

“I am a good age grouper, not nearly good enough to be professional yet but I am at an age when I can choose to have a fulltime sedentary career right now or choose to do that later and dedicate my time to see how good I can be. I have made my intentions known to coach Nicky Samuels to see what I can do for the next couple of years. I train, race and work part-time at the Wanaka Community Pool. Everyone is friendly and it is great to interact with the community and see how they are going in their own adventures.”

Glavinovic is perfectly placed to get a gauge for what is happening in the community and says so many local residents have a goal, a race or something going on in their lives – it rubs off on her.

“I think the stat is about 50% of the community use the pool in one form or another. Of all the people I interact with, everyone is on some sort of adventure, triathlon, multisport, even rehab – everyone is involved in something. Weekends like the one coming up with the Ruby Swim and Sovereign Tri Wanaka are fantastic and sum up what this town and region is all about.”

Glavinovic admits she was a bit shy at first when it came to working with her coach.

“I have been working with Nicky for 18 months. I was very intimated at the beginning to even ask her but one of my friends is coached by her and she said ‘get over it’ and ask her! This is a goal you want to achieve - so ask! It has been great, I have improved so much, and she has a wealth of knowledge herself of course.”

Glavinovic is using the standard distance race as a hard training day with an eye to Challenge Wanaka next month but says she will still have expectations of a strong finish.

“Timing wise it is perfect for my Challenge build up, I will use this as a really hard training day, when you are tired you can surprise yourself with great competition around you and see what you can do. It is great to practice amongst others in the sport, the transitions and the event disciplines, to practice and race amongst everyone else out there, it keeps your mind sharp as against another training day.”

There are still some divided loyalties between her country of birth Canada and her new home, but Glavinovic has sent a message to family and friends that his is where she plans to be for the foreseeable future.

“I visit Canada – I consider Wanaka home but I have been back to Canada for my sister’s wedding and to see family. I am here fulltime now though and have told family back there ‘I have been back 2 or 3 times, if you want to see me you have to come out to NZ and make the trip and have a better idea of why I have abandoned you all!’ I have a younger brother and older sister. My sister has been out and understands why I have made the move here.”

Sovereign Tri Wanaka offers a variety of event options, from short (300m swim, 9km bike, 3km run/jog), standard (1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run) and an off-road ‘fat tyre’ option that includes a short off road trail ride and trail run to complement the fresh water lake swim.

The standard distance event is a secondary SELECTION RACE for New Zealand Age Groupers wishing to compete in the Standard Distance event at the 2015 ITU Grand Final in Chicago, USA.

The event complements a great weekend of outdoor pursuits with the Ruby Island Swim on the Saturday. Entrants in both events will receive a 10% discount on their Sovereign Tri Series entry on the Sunday – details online at www.triseries.kiwi

Sovereign Tri Wanaka
“It’ll take your breath away’
Lake Wanaka
Sunday January 18
For more information, including race options, schedule and online entry, CLICK HERE

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