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Feilding turns on a stunner for Contact Duathlon Nationals
The Contact National Duathlon Championships were held today in Fielding with age group titles on the line in open and school categories.
The weather was perfect with no wind, slightly overcast skies and temperatures in the high teens greeting the 380 competitors.
Racing was focused in and around Fielding High School with three distance categories on offer from sprint to short to standard culminating in the National Standard Duathlon championship, a race that also carried Oceania Championship status for the elite competitors.
In the women's race it came down to a duel between Melanie Burke (Auckland) and Hannah Lawrence (Auckland) with Burke taking control in the bike leg to win by just under a minute. Burke is a former Rotorua marathon winner while Lawrence has a good record on the track and has only recently turned her hand to cycling.
Bruce Hunter (Auckland) won the men's title by an even bigger margin from Chris Sanson (Levin), clearing out to almost two minutes over the 10km run, 40km bike and 5km course. Third home was Brodie Madgwick (Auckland).
Hunter had to chase from behind though, Cameron Goldsmid (Auckland) and David Cooper went under 32 minutes for the opening 10km but Goldsmid faded during the bike and second run, while Cooper had the misfortune to crash after a dog wandered on to the course, leaving the Aucklander lacerated and grazed on the roadside and the dog not much better off.
Contact National Duathlon Championship Standard Distance - Oceania Championship 10km run, 40km bike, 5km run
Male 1 Bruce Hunter Auckland 1:50:31 2 Chris Sanson Levin 1:52:16 3 Brodie Madgwick Auckland 1:52:58 Female 1 Melanie Burke Auckland 2:03:35 2 Hanna Lawrence Auckland 2:04:32 3 Elaine Brent Wellington 2:08:23Complete results for all categories, including Sprint and Short Course available at www.triathlon.org.nz
