Elite athletes enjoy time on league podium
High-performance athletes Hayden Wilde and Ainsley Thorpe were the supreme winners at the inaugural Manawatu¯ junior triathlon league.
The new competition was held across Manawatu¯ last weekend, with a criterium race at Manfeild, Feilding, a lake swim at Off The Loop Wake Park in Foxton, a cross-country run at Timona Park in Feilding and an elite race triathlon and the mixed team relay at Lintonmilitary Camp.
Top triathlete and Olympic hopeful Wilde, from Bay of Plenty, won the elite male triathlon with an overall time of 37 minutes 13 seconds, 7sec ahead of fellow high-performance athlete Sam Ward, of Cambridge.
Manawatu¯’s Luke Scott was third in 37min 23sec.
Ainsley Thorpe, of Auckland, won the elite women’s triathlon in 40min 41sec. She was one second ahead of another high-performance triathlete, Nicole Van Der Kaay, of Taupo¯.
Rebecca Spence, of North Harbour, was third in 40min 47sec.
Manawatu¯ winners were Sam Parry, first in the under-19 boys’ race, and Filip Martin and Millie Evans won the under-13 boys’ and girls’ competitions, respectively.
The event involved about 80 highperformance and regional youth academy triathletes from around New Zealand.
Triathlon NZ general manager of performance and Olympic gold medallist Hamish Carter thanked the Manawatu¯ Triathlon Club and volunteers for putting on a great event.
‘‘Imagine 13 17-year-old budding triathletes having the opportunity to meet, chat with, laugh, race and learn from the squad of high-performance athletes all on the brink of Olympic team selection.
‘‘It was pretty cool.’’ Dunedin competitors won the under-23 events, with Olivia Thornbury winning the women’s and Janus Staufenberg the men’s.
Ben Airey, from Canterbury, won the under-16 boys’ event; Lulu Johnson, from Tauranga, the under-16 girls’, and Brea Roderick, of Canterbury, the under-19 girls’.