Moving on from Ironkidz contest
When Ivan Abele was young, his parents got him up very early one morning and took him to watch the start of the Ironman New Zealand event.
That early morning trip sparked an interest in the-then eight-year-old who was already good at swimming and liked riding his bike.
He joined in his school triathlon and began attending Tri Sport Taupo¯ ’s regular Monday night triathlon and duathlon events which welcome all ages and competitors.
He also became a regular attender at the annual Waira¯ kei Estate Ironkidz event, which this year is being held on Sunday, March 1.
Since then, he’s done Ironkidz every year from 2012 to 2019 and still has all of his participation medals. When he turned 11 he stepped up to the elites and from there gradually made his way to the front, peaking in his last year as an Ironkid, with first place in the Senior Elites in 2019.
Now he’s among the top young triathletes in the country and this coming weekend will be competing in Wanaka at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Triathlon Championships where he is hoping for a good placing.
This weekend’s triathlon champs follows success for Ivan last weekend at the Huka XStream River Swim, where he was the first man, completing the swim in 26 minutes and 16 seconds.
Ivan found early success in triathlon, competing at the annual Waikato/Bay of Plenty championships where he got consistently good results. His father Marcel says once Ivan began competing as an Elite at Ironkidz (the non-Elite categories are not run as a race and are about having fun and taking part), he was determined to do well.
“Every year he got placed better and better and the goal was to win and he finally achieved that last year. The distance isn’t too different from the school nationals so it was the perfect buildup as well,” Marcel says.
“Over the years he was always one of the smallest and for him it was always like ‘give it all and have a good race’. You could always see when he was having a good race, he was crossing the finish line and smiling because he knew that he did what he could and the placing wasn’t that important.”
Ivan’s interest in triathlon also meant the rest of the family got involved and his father Marcel is now an active competitor alongside his son.
The pair began attending the Monday night summer series triathlons which are aimed at anyone interested and provide a great starting point.
“You can do the short course and if you don’t want to do it [all] you can do it with team members and it’s a good stepping stone,” says Marcel.
Marcel says with between 600 and 700 kids doing Ironkidz every year, there’s an interest among children in triathlon, and Tri Sport Taupo¯ ’s summer events are the perfect way to get into it. A wetsuit is not compulsory and most of the beginners ride whatever bike they have at home.
“No one expects you to come prepared with everything.”
Ivan moved to competing at national level after Tri Sport Taupo¯ put on special junior training with coaching from Cameron Durno and Sam Bradley. He currently does sprint distance triathlons which consist of a 750m swim, 30km bike ride and a 5km run.
This weekend’s New Zealand Secondary Schools National Triathlon Championships is the biggest event on the national triathlon calendar for Ivan and he has competed at it for the last five years. The event is intensely competitive and last year he was delighted to come away with a second placing in the under-16 boys category.
He will also compete at the Oceania Sprint Championships in New Plymouth at the end of March, in the junior elite category.
Tri Sport Taupo¯ ’s summer series continues through February. For information, visit their Facebook page.
■ For more information about Waira¯kei Estate Ironkidz, visit www.ironkidz.com.