Tameka gives life a sporting chance

Andrew Mathieson
SIPPING down a long black, sitting in the sun overlooking Eastern Beach promenade, retired triathlon champ Tameka Day can surely smile again about life.
“Yep, absolutely,” she says without hesitation.
“When I decided I wasn’t going to do triathlons at the top level, it was a bit disappointing because that was my life and I loved it for so long.
“I was happy to be there but, to be alive, I’m really happy now.”
Triathlons despite their punishing nature are not about life or death but Tameka found out one wrong decision can be the difference.
Hers came in 2007 on a picturesque mountain top in the French Alps.
Cycling down a hill face, she lost control of the bike a few kilometres from the finish and crashed heavily into a barrier.
The end result was cracked vertebrae, a punctured lung and swelling on the brain that left the gutsy Geelong competitor in a medically-induced coma for weeks.
Stitches and lacerations to her lips, nose and face were just the visual scars.
“I still can’t remember the accident,” Tameka insists, “but, because I did that course a few times in the days before, I had an idea about what happened when I was told what corner my accident was on.”
A bystander at the scene visited the hospital weeks later, telling Tameka of the horrific moments that nearly killed her.
She mistakenly put the brakes on the gravel only to skid out of control when misjudging a turn.
The barrier that put her in a coma proved a help rather than a hindrance.
“It was about a 100-metre drop down,” she explains.
“If the barrier wasn’t there, I would have gone straight down the mountain and it was a pretty steep downhill descent, too.”
Just a week after waking from a coma, Tameka told her lifelong coach she would be fit to race in Monaco in less than a month.
Described by triathlete husband Leigh Newberry as “fit as a Mallee bull”, she couldn’t kick out of the stalls this time.
“At the time I couldn’t even walk or stand up,” she says.
“I look back and think how unrealistic that was.”
More than two years since the incident, the emotion has gone. A face of solemn reflection has been replaced with a smiling demeanour.
The scars are not mental, just an achy back and a case of “wonky” double vision when driving long distances. Then in a moment, she pauses, gulps one of her last mouthfuls of coffee, drops her spoon inside the cup and looks at the drink like life is half full, not half empty.
“I really haven’t thought about the fall too much,” Tameka says.
“I suppose the injuries I had were pretty serious. But when I regained consciousness, and because of the swelling on the brain, you don’t know what is going to happen and what damage has been really done. I think it was looking pretty good.”
A naive Tameka slowly slipped into triathlons in 2000 after hitting Geelong’s running tracks to just keep fit. She hadn’t swum laps in a pool nor ridden a bike since she was a playful girl.
She fulfilled her potential when she won a silver medal at the world championships two years later.
Fresh from having her first child less than two months ago, the 32-year-old is now back keeping fit and relying on “muscle memory” to push through a pain barrier that now seems incomparable to her early days in triathlons.
“I went for my first run a week ago since having a baby,” she grins.
“I time myself, of course, but I just had to go a bit slow.”
Coaching Geelong triathlon hopefuls – and targeting mums who want to get back into shape – stirs up the competitive fires.
The goals are to teach the skills, techniques of the disciplines to finish a triathlon and, also–Tameka emphasises –how to change a tyre.
“It’s a long ride when you’re out by yourself,” she says, “and I won’t be doing it all.”