Reid Is Challenged After He Crosses Finish Line in Gisborne   28 Mar 2014

Triathlon New Zealand

27 March 2014

Reid Is Challenged After He Crosses the Finish Line in Gisborne

Tayler Reid received a truly special welcome as he crossed the line to win back to back National School Triathlon titles in his home town of Gisborne today; the pre-race favourite was met as he crossed the line by a Haka delivered by his Gisborne Boys High school mates in a unique and special moment in the sport.

Reid dominated the U19 Boys event, winning by close to 3 minutes from Leo Roper (McLeans College) and Liam Ward (St Kentigern College), continuing a great summer for the National Talent Squad triathlete during which he earned selection to the ITU Elite Junior World Championships in Edmonton in September.

Conditions proved daunting, especially in the water with a good swell and strong winds leading to some big waves and tough racing for the athletes, with some competitors finding the swim too tough to overcome while others like Reid and Jaimee Leader (Palmerston North Girls High) showed their strength to put big margins on their opponents.

Leader was even more dominant than Reid in winning the U19 Girls race. Leader simply smashed the opposition to win by just under 11 minutes in one of the more dominant performances the event has ever seen. Leader was almost 10 minutes clear after the swim, with the rest of the field being blown off course and in towards the beach before negotiating their way back out to the marker buoy.

The U16 races were won by Rose Dillon (Auckland Diocesan) and Dan Hoy (Westlake Boys High). Dillon had to wait to savour the win though, having an initial protest against her upheld and then dismissed on appeal. In the U14 events Zach Taylor and Olivia Cronin (Gisborne Girls High School) ran out winners in good conditions. The U13 winners were Dylan McCullough (St Kentigern College) and Sophie Wilkinson (Baradene College) and in the U12 events, Noya Oporto and Andrew Matthews took out the gold medals on offer.

Following on from the individual events schools took to teams racing in the afternoon, with many athletes backing up after racing in the morning. Conditions though dictated that the team events were transferred to the pool, with swimmers setting off at set intervals and total times measured to find the overall winning teams.

The National Schools Triathlon festival continues with the Aquathlon (swim/run) and Super Sprint Teams (2 boys/2 girls) on Friday before the National Schools Open Water Swim Championships wraps up the event on Saturday morning.

For preliminary results in all races today, CLICK HERE

2014 National Schools Triathlon Championships
26 – 29 March
Waikanae Beach, Churchill and Beacon Reserves
Gisborne

28th March 2014 (Friday)
Super Sprint Tag Team / Aquathlon / Prize giving & Post Event Party
29th March 2014 (Saturday)
Open Water Swim / Prizegiving for Open Water Swim

CLICK HERE for the event website and full schedule

For further information visitwww.triathlon.org.nz

ENDS

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