Coach John didn’t fail to impress today. His latest initiative, the House of Travel Triathlon Festival out at Pegasus Town, was extremely well received by competitors and spectators. Our Juniors raced in the Uvex Classic Triathlon (500m swim, 15km cycle, 5km run), the Team Challenge, and the John Bull Tri Kids Challenge races (150m swim, 10km cycle, 2.5km run for 12-13 year olds, and 150m swim, 5km cycle, 2.5km cycle for 9-11 year olds). Inbetween those events, we were also able to watch the Try a Tri race and the Elite Cup, which took place as the last race of the day.
There were two races in particular that made for exciting spectating.
In the John Bull Tri Kids Challenge, the Canterbury Tri Club’s 2010 Junior Athlete of the Year, Rainer Pye, went up against Max Jones from Christchurch Boys High in the 12-13 years age group. Rainer exited the water 12 seconds down on Max, who was first out overall. Onto the bikes, Rainer briefly caught up to Max, before Max powered away and came into the cycle to run transition holding onto first place. Max’s mum conceded while waiting for the run to conclude that Rainer is the stronger runner of the two and Max had gone into the event with a strained hip flexor. Sure enough, Rainer came through for the win – 1.09 minutes ahead of Max, but we’re sure they’ll be looking forward to when their events next cross, wherever that may be!
In the Female 12-13 race, it was almost a mirror image of the boys’ race. Jess Kikstra of Christchurch Girls High exited the water in first place, 11 seconds ahead of Ella Harris. Jess maintained the lead heading out of transition on the cycle, but Ella kept her within her sights throughout that leg. Coach Ken, acting as MC for the day, kept the tension high with his commentary – will or won’t Ella catch Jess? Jess increased her lead to 24 seconds on the cycle, but the pressure was definitely on for the run. Normally a stronger runner than Ella, Jess started well but Ella’s motivation was high. Jess held on to her lead to finish in first place, but Ella took 10 seconds out of Jess on the run, with Jess’s lead reducing to just 14 seconds by the end.
Overall, everyone performed really well and it was a great turn-out from our Juniors. We had a number of podium finishes – congratulations in particular to Laura Steffens (Black Squad) who finished 2nd in the Classic (F0-19), Edward de la Cour who finished 3rd in the Kids Challenge (M9-11), Kate Smith who was 2nd in the Kids Challenge (F9-11), Lorna Pairman who was 3rd in the Kids Challenge (F9-11), Rainer and Ella in their categories, and Cameron Avery who was 3rd in the Kids Challenge (M12-13). There were also loads of top ten finishes.
We also can’t forget Thijs, who raced in the Elite Cup – we hope you enjoyed watching him in action and feel suitably inspired to one day race as an elite athlete too.
Thijs (far left) in action
On behalf of the Junior Programme, we wish everyone a very happy Christmas and New Year period. We hope you’ve enjoyed this term’s training and events, and look forward to seeing you all back in Term 1 (especially those of you who have their sights on the National Secondary Schools Triathlon Champs (including Years 7 and 8) which are being held at Pegasus Town in March). Between now and then, we have the Contact Tri Series Race on 30 January, also at Pegasus – consider doing the 3:9:3 race as a way of finishing off the holidays!
Results (in finishing time order per race)
Uvex Classic Triathlon
- 11th (M0-19) – Macauley Pye (9.21 swim, 27.02 cycle, 25.49 run) – 1:02.13
- 2nd (F0-19) – Laura Steffens (10.30 swim, 31.45 cycle, 20.34 run) – 1:02.51
- 4th (F0-19) – Emily Wood (10.25 swim, 29.42 cycle, 23.44 run) – 1:03.51
- 12th (M0-19) – Liam Tyrrell (12.37 swim, 31.36 cycle, 21.49 run) – 1:06.03
- 10th (F0-19) – Leanne Feary (10.48 swim, 32.41 cycle, 27.43 run) – 1:11.13
- 13th (M0-19) – Corrie Hoult (12.07 swim, 32.40 cycle, 26.53 run) – 1:11.14
Team Challenge
- 14th (M) – Team TNT – Max and Charlie Hunter (11.48 swim, 35.12 cycle, 24.31 run) – 1:11.32
John Bull Tri Kids Challenge
- 3rd (M9-11) – Edward de la Cour (4.06 swim, 22.23 cycle/run combined) – 26.29
- 5th (M9-11) – Charlie de la Cour (3.48 swim, 12.12 cycle, 11.38 run) – 27.39
- 6th (M9-11) – Sean Swanson (4.21 swim, 12.04 cycle, 11.14 run) – 27.41
- 7th (M9-11) – Sean Emms (4.12 swim, 24.42 cycle/run combined) – 28.54
- 2nd (F9-11) – Kate Smith (3.45 swim, 25.14 cycle/run combined) – 28.59
- 10th (M9-11) – Hunter Ferguson-Wilson (3.42 swim, 25.28 cycle/run combined) – 29.11
- 3rd (F9-11) – Lorna Pairman (3.49 swim, 25.33 cycle/run combined) – 29.23
- 15th (M9-11) – Louis Harris (5.07 swim, 26.09 cycle/run combined) – 31.16
- 7th (F9-11) – Stephanie Emms (4.51 swim, 13.41 cycle, 14.38 run) – 33.10
- 20th (M9-11) – Lachlan Robertson (5.05 swim, 28.40 cycle/run combined) – 33.46
- 8th (F9-11) – Kathryn Glen (4.21 swim, 14.39 cycle, 15.01 run) – 34.02
- 22nd (M9-11) – Dakota Bristow (5.59 swim, 14.27 cycle, 14.26 run) – 34.54
- 29th (M9-11) – Michiel van Heyningen (8.15 swim, 16.41 cycle, 14.49 run) – 39.46
Long Course
- 1st (M12-13) – Rainer Pye (2.59 swim, 30.25 cycle/run combined) – 33.24
- 2nd (F12-13) – Ella Harris (3.32 swim, 32.19 cycle/run combined) – 35.52
- 3rd (M12-13) – Cameron Avery (3.30 swim, 32.36 cycle/run combined) – 36.06
- 4th (M12-13) – Rory Swanson (3.26 swim, 33.10 cycle/run combined) – 36.37
- 5th (M12-13) – Angus Bailey (3.54 swim, 23.40 cycle, 10.03 run) – 37.38
- 7th (M12-13) – Paddy Leckie (3.28 swim, 34.43 cycle/run combined) – 38.12
- 8th (M12-13) – Thomas Harford (3.59 swim, 36.19 cycle/run combined) – 40.18
- 6th (F12-13) – Sarah McLeod (4.54 swim, 27.37 cycle, 14.34 run) – 47.06
- 7th (F12-13) – Meg Roberts (4.43 swim, 27.54 cycle, 14.35 run) – 47.13
Anneke, Laura and Loren appear not to have finished their races – please let us know if this is an error. And please let us know if we’ve missed you!
Full Results can be viewed here
- Photos: Swim and Cycle Legs
- Photos: Run Leg
- Photos: Prizegiving
