Mirinda
Carfrae is ending her life of duplicity. She’s been
a long-distance animal in a cheetah’s clothing; a
closet Ironman. Groomed by Australia’s Olympic
machine, Mirinda came to terms with herself and her
future over the winter. “I’m an endurance triathlete
not an Olympic speedster,” Carfrae concluded. “I’ve
always known that I get stronger as the distance
increases but back home in Australia there’s a lot
of pressure to succeed at the Olympic distance.
While I’m fast enough to win short-distance
non-drafting races where I can take advantage of my
cycling, the Olympic race is all about foot speed
and that’s not my strong suit.”
Indeed, Mirinda’s historical results prove her
correct. Although she was twice a Silver Medalist at
the Under 23 ITU (Olympic format) World
Championships, her best results have been at longer
distances including a win at the Nice Triathlon
(2004), a Silver Medal at the ITU World Long Course
Championships (2005), two Ironman 70.3 Series wins,
and a 3rd Place at the Ford Ironman 70.3
World Championships (2006).
Unlike past years when Mirinda tried to balance ITU
racing and her passion for going long, she’ll have a
single 2007 focus – the Ford Ironman 70.3 World
Championships in November. En route to that
destination, she’ll race a mixture of 70.3/half-ironman
distance races (including Wildflower) and
non-drafting short distance races (including St.
Anthony’s, Chicago and Los Angeles triathlons).
The journey from short to long distance triathlon
requires the athlete to solve two mission-critical
items: cycling aerodynamics and nutrition.
“Fortunately, I’ve had a long-time association with
Cannondale and, since there’s nowhere to go up from
Cannondale, I was happy to renew that relationship”
said Carfrae. “Nutrition was another matter. I
haven’t had any relationships and, after evaluating
all the advice I could get, I found a
medically-oriented company in America with the
perfect hydration product.”
The product is CeraSport Oral Hydration from the
Columbia, Maryland, manufacturer of CeraLyte ORS, an
advanced medical hydration product. CeraLyte is
recommended widely by doctors to combat dehydration
caused by illness and diarrhea. Cera’s products are
based on patented rice formulations that contain a
variety of carbohydrate chain lengths and
preservation of rice protein, glutamine and other
components inherent in rice. Instead of simple
sugars, CeraSport’s mixed chain composition provides
quick yet sustained hydration. While CeraSport is
not widely recognized yet in the endurance sports
community, it is the hydration product of choice for
many individual elite athletes, and U.S. military
Special Forces (Rangers, SEALs, and others).
CeraSport hydrates, provides energy, and can help
enhance performance
“Our products have been evaluated and validated in
over 15 laboratory and clinical studies,” said
Charlene Riikonen, President of Cera Products. “We
know we have an effective product for the endurance
sports’ market in CeraSport. What we’re learning is
how to introduce CeraSport to that market. When
Mirinda approached us, we were impressed not only by
her as an athlete but as a spokesperson who can help
us understand the endurance market and help the
endurance market understand us.”
“While I expect to win some races this year, this is
definitely a learning year for me. It will be my
first season with a single training-focus and I’ll
have luxury to do some experimentation with
training, equipment and nutrition that I haven’t
been able to do in past years,” commented Carfrae.
“Full-distance Ironman racing is definitely on my
radar but, since I’m still very young by Ironman
standards, I want to use 70.2/half-ironman racing as
a stepping stone. If all goes well, you may see me
in Kona next year.”
