Onlookers at Matapouri Beach must have thought 2008 World Number 1 Triathlete Sam Warriner had gone mad, as they witnessed her running into the sea wearing her wedding dress in a hilarious "Drown the Gown" the day after her wedding on 28th December.

Sam first met her husband-to-be: Stephen Bradley in her home town of Whangarei after a good 5 months of unrelenting prodding from Stephen's work colleague, "Sam had been living in Whangarei for some years when I moved here to begin teaching at Kamo High School in 2004/5. Another colleague at school kept trying get me to go out training with his friend Sam, as he'd heard I used to cycle in my earlier days. This went on from about April until September. I'd seen Sam on the TV a couple of times so knew who she was and wasn't that keen on getting my butt kicked by a girl so kept putting the ride off! By September I'd run out of excuses so went for a 2 hour training spin with her and duly got a thrashing - but I took it like a man and didn't complain," said Stephen.

Even though Stephen has been cycling and racing since he was 14, his role in his relationship with Sam is that of most favourite support person, "Stephen brings the balance to my life, sometimes I get so caught up in triathlon, it's like I've got blinkers on. One bad training session or race can seem like the end of the world, Stephen puts things in perspective for me. Our life is anything but normal, last year I was away from Mid-February until October. There's a lot of trust involved in that, this is my job and I'm committed to it 100%, but I've always been honest with Stephen and told him when the time comes I'll be 100% committed to looking after our family and putting back in what I've taken out," said Sam.

Stephen understands and supports Sam's 100% committment to triathlon and is more than happy to role up his sleevies and take on the role of chief cook and bottle washer when Sam is training mammoth hours, "Roles go out the window in our house! Our lives are no different to anybody else's, the dinner still needs cooking, the house kept clean and the mortgage paid. If Sam is training from 6 am until 5 pm it's just a case of what needs doing," said Stephen.

Stephen's ongoing support scored him a year away with Sam during her racing in 2008 which was a blast, "Stephen understands that this is what I need to do now in order to be the best I can be. I only have a short opportunity to do what I am doing. I've been very lucky in that I've won some big races over the past couple of years which has enabled me to bring him along with me more and more. In 2008 Stephen took the whole year off from teaching, spent all his own savings and traveled with me for the whole year, it was the happiest year of my career in all honesty, why wouldn't it be, traveling with the one you love doing what you love! Triathlon NZ have been supportive of this too, once upon a time it was frowned upon if an athlete wanted a partner to come out on 'holiday' with them during the season , but these days it's accepted that we're mature adults and if we're balance and happy we race better. It showed in my results too, every race was like an adventure in 2008, we'd arrive at the race hotel 3 days before and get ourselves all set up, just lock ourselves away in the room and watch DVD's, I was so relaxed before races it was great. Vancouver comes to mind, we rode the course for the world champs the day before the races at the official course familiarization. You ride maybe 3 laps of the course escorted by ITU officials on mopeds. Vanessa Fernandes had her usual group of helpers around her, she has maybe 5 on the bike, all surrounding her. Stephen got me tucked in on his wheel and we blasted them all on the long straight, it was hilarious! But we did heaps of stuff like that - great memories," said Sam.

But following their year away together, 2009 was a struggle, "I think that's what made 2009 so difficult, we decided that Stephen would stay home as we started to build our new house and he needed to stay and oversee that. I left in late February and planned to be away until after Clearwater, but nothing seemed to go right in 2009, sting ray attacks, crashes in South Korea, broken ribs, burn out, it all seemed to come at once and I think that's because I wasn't in the same happy place that I was in 2008. Technology is great, 5 years ago it would have been one phone call a week, but now we can literally see each other any time of the day or night on skype, but it's still not the same as being together," said Sam.

This year Sam plans to base herself in NZ more, "I'll go overseas to train and race but we're working on blocks of time, probably no more than 6 weeks at a time, with equal amounts back home in NZ. We've got a gorgeous property we're developing up here in Northland, and the urge to leave it is becoming less and less, but I still want to win races and win big races. This year isn't so important for qualification either, that'll all begin again in 2011," said Sam.

Up until last year Sam and Stephen trained together on the bike quite a lot but Stephen hasn't trained with Sam now for well over a year, "Mark Watson was talking to me back in France in 08 and was talking about another athlete and he remarked that 'she'll never get any quicker until she stops training with her partner and starts training with other guys'. I thought about it and decided to encourage Sam to train with other stronger guys on the bike from that point on. Although I've been cycling and racing since I was 14, I just don't have the time to commit fully to a training plan and so can't push Sam as much as someone who's committed to the sport. We do still go for the odd ride together from time to time, and I always try and take my bike with me if she's racing in NZ so we can ride the course together and see if I can give her any advice but that's all. I'd much rather be on the ride on mower these days if I'm being honest!," said Stephen.

With Sam following a very busy schedule racing the pro circuit, both Sam and Stephen make it a top priority to enjoy their time together and make time for each other. Sam's advice for any couples where one is racing the pro circuit is to, "Make sure you do things together that do not involve sport. We have a 'date night' once a week , we take it in turns to organize and go through the alphabet. It's taken a back seat the past few weeks as we have family over but last time we were on the letter 'J', so it was fish and chips from the local takeaways and we took them down to the Jetty and ate them. Stephen's dates always seem to involve fish and chips no matter what letter it is he somehow manages to relate it?! I'm a bit more original, we end up doing painting or something!" said Sam.

Who ever said, "the way to man's heart is through his stomach," never spoke a truer word, "Sometimes it does seem like it's Sam Sam Sam, but to be honest, I absolutely love watching her train and race. There's something great about watching someone who is so determined and committed to a goal go out after it. When Sam commits to a race we both commit really. But outside of triathlon she's a great partner too, she makes the best chocolate brownie, there's always baking in the cupboards, and when she goes overseas I generally get three or four different lasagnas frozen for me! said Stephen.

Aside from Sam's intensely busy racing schedule, getting out in the garden helps her relax and unwind. "We've got 18 acres here in Northland, Stephen does the majority of the work on it but I love getting out and grubbing thistles, or planting trees. It's an escape for me, we love locking the front gate and forgetting about the world to be honest. We're pretty simple really, no frills, we brought one of these massive plasma TV's a couple of weeks ago and the sales man said to begin with that he needed to know what sort of TV we watched, Movies or Sport primarily? Well I replied Coronation Street and Stephen replied the 6 O'clock news!? The salesman cracked up laughing!," said Sam.

So home now for Sam and Stephen is in Parua Bay, Whangarei, where they have just finished building a house that looks out over an amazing view, "Our neighbor built 6 man made lakes and gifted them along with 110 acres of native bush to The Queen Elizabeth II Trust, so it's always going to be there. We've got two smaller lakes of our own with Brown and Grey Teal on them, Paradise Ducks too. The morning chorus is gorgeous, I love rolling over in the morning, hearing the ducks chattering away and looking out at the view. The countryside here is gorgeous and being so near the beaches too is great. It is also great for training as the roads are quiet and there's plenty of hills. Since moving to NZ I have always lived in Whangarei, and the community have supported me so well." 5 years down the track, Sam and Stephen tied the knot on 28th December, at Lakelands, Parua Bay on their neighbour's property. "The reception was on the waterfront at Parua Bay Tavern.

People were quite surprised as they expected a 'traditional' meal at the reception but we hired the local Thai restaurant from town, they came out to the Tavern lock stock and barrel, did all the catering, dressed in traditional Thai outfits, waited on us, it was fab and a real experience," said Sam.

Stephen was sporting a red tie and black pin striped suit, and Sam stole the show in a Maggie Soletto from London,

"I loved it. It was diamond white with diamante pearls on it. Simple but classic. The best part was the next day, we all went to the beach and did 'Drown The Gown' with the photographer, people at Matapouri Beach must of thought I had gone mad, running into the sea wearing my wedding dress!?" said Sam.

They won't be having a honeymoon as such, after having so many family over from the UK for their wedding, "Tauranga really will be a honeymoon for me, I'm not expecting to race like I raced last year. Weddings are great they really are, but they're stressful too! It got quite hectic in the weeks leading into the wedding and I had to make a decision, try and train through and jeopardize our one big day, or put training on the back burner and just enjoy the company of all our families. There was no decision really - weddings are a once in a lifetime thing and we just wanted to soak everything up, so there's been lots of late nights, lots of champagne, and lots of days on the beach as a family. I'm not concerned about Tauranga it's the start of my season really, my first hard training day of 2010," said Sam.

Sam is looking at racing a few more 70.3 races up until May in her coming season, "and then I've always wanted to do one of the big American races like Wildflower or St.Anthonys. Since this is the last year before Olympic selection starts I'd like to do it now, then once June comes it's all about collecting ITU ranking points for your country to try and get the maximum 3 slots at the Olympics, so I'll be focused on that. A lot of people have suggested to me that I should focus on 70.3 as I can win races fairly consistently at that distance, I think they forget before I got injured I could do that too at ITU, I seem to remember beating Emma Moffat fairly regularly in 2008 and a certain sprint finish in Vancouver too! So I'm not walking away from ITU just yet," Sam reminds us.

So is it Sam Bradley or Sam Warriner-Bradley or? "People may find that part interesting too. One things for sure, no double barreled surnames, we both find them a little pretentious."

A heartfelt congratulations to Sam and Stephen on their union, and we wish you a long and happy marriage with many lasting memories.

See you at Tauranga!!