mmg.com.au

It was fitting Ardmona triathlete Jason Shields overcame multiple hurdles in Ironman New Zealand on Saturday before achieving his goal of qualifying for the Ironman World Championship at Kona in Hawaii.

Nothing has come easy for Shields, so it suited the script when the 36-year-old, who finished second in the men’s 35-to-39 age group in nine hours, 37 min and 16 sec, had some trouble along the way.

There were just four qualifying slots available in his age group for the Ironman World Championship.

Trouble first struck with about 30km to go on the bike leg, when Shields noticed a small hole in one of his tyres that was slowing him down.

The Shepparton Tri Club member fixed that problem — losing less than 30 seconds — and hopped off the bike in first place in his age group, only for his back to seize up just 5km into the marathon.

Shields, who has had ankle and calf issues during his three-year triathlon career, initially feared his day was over and spent the next 2km walking.

‘‘Three people passed me, but none from my age group,’’ Shields said.

‘‘I got to the first turnaround point and thought I’d try and run, and then, all of a sudden, it hurt less if I ran and it freed up and I got back into what I planned.’’

Shields completed the first 7km of his run in about 45 minutes, but his next-worst 7km split was his last one and that was still only 34 minutes.

New Zealander Deano Gaskin, the 2011 champion in Shields’ age group, drew level with the Goulburn Valley star before passing him with 5km to go.

Shields said he was ‘‘shattered’’ at first when Gaskin passed him, but the realisation he was going to qualify for Kona helped that negative emotion subside.

‘‘It’s a pretty surreal feeling and it has been all week since I got here,’’ he said.

‘‘You walk around and it’s a little bit different to Shepp.

‘‘There are even fitter-looking people and you don’t really feel like you fit in.

‘‘I was sitting there cramping and seizing up (after finishing) and I just couldn’t hold back the emotions — it was the best feeling.’’

Shields’ 58:33 swim was about a minute faster than he hoped, but it was his elite 4.59 bike leg that launched him to the front of the pack.

He attacked with 45km left on the bike and gained significant ground on his age-group competitors.

Shields said the new drafting rule, which enforces a 10 m rather than 7 m gap between riders, worked in his favour.

He qualified for this year’s Ironman World Championship 70.3 at Las Vegas with his outstanding Ironman 70.3 Shepparton performance last November.

Shields thanked champion Shepparton cyclist Leigh Egan for helping him devise his aggressive bike strategy, and Graeme McNeill and Cameron Walker for believing in his ability.

Shepparton’s Danny Young (13.07:56) and Shepparton Tri Club’s Wade Hicks (11.23:35) — who was fifth in the men’s 18-to-24 age group — and Ben Kneebone (13.08:59) also finished in what was the first ironman for each.