Pleasant Point teen set for world champs
Pleasant Point teenager Jayden Walker is hoping Covid-19 does not prevent him contesting the multisport world championships in the Netherlands this year.
The 18-year-old year 13 Geraldine High School student, who qualified for the 2020 duathlon sprint at the International Triathlon Union’s event that was postponed to 2021, has been competing since 2018.
Duathlons comprise two sports in one event, usually running and cycling. A sprint distance race is 2.5 kilometres of running, 20km of cycling concluding with a further 5km run.
‘‘I was always a keen runner and did cross-country at primary school.’’
At high school, Walker decided to have a focus for his training and worked towards the Lake Hood 7km run in 2017 and won in the 13 to 19-year category,
‘‘I thought I want to pursue this and I was encouraged to take up cycling, so I thought I would give it a go.’’
After a few duathlons he found he liked cycling and was 8th in the South Island secondary schools event in 2019. Though he did not make the cut to qualify for the world champs he kept training.
Using times from the Otago Duathlon Championships in January 2020 of 1 hour 12 minutes and the South Island secondary schools championships in March 2020 with 1 hour 7 seconds he applied and qualified.
He has recovered from a hip injury which halted his training and is easing back into his six-day a week training.
He hopes Covid will not again interfere with the world champs of which he is one of 23 in the New Zealand squad headed for Europe in September.
In the meantime he is looking forward to the Timaru Triathlon and Duathlon in February and fundraising for the $10,000 to $12,000 he will need to compete to represent New Zealand internationally.