Pictures: Michelle Cutelli
Angie Keen’s triathlon career didn’t begin well. When the now World Triathlon champion turned up to her first endurance multi-sport event, she was the only adult competitor!
“It was just me and a sea of kids,” laughs Angie about the 2012 triathlon in Wellington, where she was living at the time.
“It was a bit embarrassing, especially as some of the kids were quite fast! I kept thinking, ‘This is awful. Why am I doing this?’ But I finished it and had such a great sense of achievement that I immediately signed up for another event.”
Now based in Rotorua, where she works as a police constable, Angie, 35, became so obsessed with triathlons that she can’t remember how many she’s completed.
“It must have be hundreds over the years! It’s the strangest thing with triathlons – you hate it while you’re doing it, but once you cross the finish line, you forget all about the pain and wonder when the next one is!”
Last year, athletic Angie’s determination paid off when she took home several of the top prizes at the World Triathlon Championships in Spain, coming first in two events in her age group – the Super Sprint (a 300m swim, 6.4km bike ride and 1.6km run), as well as the Aquabike, which involves a 1.5km swim and gruelling 40km bike ride.
“To beat out so many competitors from all over the world was a huge thrill. I’d been training twice a day, six days a week for months, so to have that rewarded with gold medals was pretty special.”
She also recently beat out nine others to take home the 2023 NZ Police Sportsperson of the Year Award. It’s not bad for someone who admits she was never sporty.
“I was raised on a rural property near Wellington and my parents trained horses, so I grew up riding. I didn’t get into sport until I got to high school.”
Pushing her body to the edge of its limits hasn’t always paid off, though. In 2018, after competing in an international triathlon in Denmark, Angie suffered a near collapse.
“I was so broken after that race that I had to be wheel-chaired around! Fortunately, I hadn’t broken anything, but my muscles were so overused that everything seized up, which was my body’s way of telling me I needed to stop. I really worried that I wouldn’t be able to compete again.”
The former travel agent took a year off her chosen sport, which fortunately coincided with her being accepted into the NZ Police College.
“I hated being behind a desk all day and knew I wanted a job with lots of variety, where you never know what each day will bring.”
Angie found that variety in her first posting to New Plymouth, where she spent almost five years working not only on the frontline but also in the road policing team.
“I requested to be posted to either Tauranga, New Plymouth or Nelson, mainly because they’ve got great beaches I could train at! I’m definitely not a city kind of girl.”
Two years ago, Angie was transferred to Rotorua, where she shares a house with Kona, a 10-year-old retired police dog.
Angie admits that policing Rotorua’s roads fills both her career and social cups.
“It’s a unique job that isn’t for everyone, but I find being a police offer so rewarding because I’m able to help people who could be having the worst day of their lives.”
Working closely with colleagues is another major drawcard. “I used to roll my eyes when people said that police colleagues become like family, but it’s true! We can find ourselves in dangerous situations where we’re relying on others to have our back.”
Although she’s currently on a break from competitive triathlons, Angie admits there are numerous parallels between her day job and winning gold medals.
“With both sport and policing, you get days when you feel like it’s all too hard and want to give up. But the mental strength and resilience I’ve built through sport really helps. And when things go wrong and I’ve got to make quick decisions, sport has taught me to stop and think clearly, which is a huge bonus at work.”
So committed is Angie to fitness that even though she’s meant to be taking it easy and resetting her body, most days she’s pounding the pavement or taking a dip in Lake Rotorua.
“Being active has become such a lifestyle that I can’t imagine not doing it. I did think about taking up kick-boxing and spoke to a few friends who do it. I almost signed up for classes, but I can’t seem to get away from the fact that I love going for a bike ride, a run and getting into the water. For me, it’s not a sport – it’s my life!”
