15 March 2003
Carter, Warriner achieve Kiwi triathlon double
World No 7 Hamish Carter
confirmed his undoubted class with an emphatic victory in the SBS Oceania
Triathlon Championships in Queenstown today.
Carter defended the title he
won last year, when he ran away from compatriot Kris Gemmell and Australian Ben
Buchholz on the run to win in 1:51.15.
Whangarei’s Sam Warriner
achieved a major breakthrough to claim the women’s title ahead of four
Australians including two-time world champion Emma Carney.
The event, that doubled as the
national championships, was a test run over the course to be used for the world
championships in December.
Carter raved about the course
that he helped devise, that includes a 1.5km swim in Lake Hayes, 40kim cycle to
Arrowtown and seven-lap loop of the township, and 10km run with four-laps
around the Millbrook Resort.
``The course is awesome. It’s
mighty tough, especially on the bike, but this has got to be one of the best
courses I’ve raced on, and will be incredible for the worlds.’’
He broke clear with Gemmell and
Buchholz on the second lap of the bike, pushing out to a 1min 50sec lead off
the cycle, that proved the winning break.
``Sometimes when you go early
it pays off, but sometimes you get a small lead and use yourself up for the
run,’’ Carter said.
``We worked really hard today
and it was a case of a group of three going faster than the group of seven
behind.’’
That group included world No 2
Chris Hill from Australia, No 8 Bevan Docherty and No 13 Craig Watson.
Carter pushed clear from the
start of the run, opening up a commanding 40 second advantage mid-way through
the picturesque run, with Hill blizting home with a 32m53s run split for
second. Gemmell, nursing a leg injury, limped home in third.
A bunch of seven cleared out at
the front of the women’s race, with top ranked Evelyn Williamson withdrawing
with an injury and top hopeful Fiona Docherty pulling out on the bike.
Warriner, Auckland’s Debbie
Tanner and Australians Mirinda Carfrae and Maxine Seear pushed clear early on
the run, with Carfrae, second in the under-23 race at November’s world
championships, claiming a six second advantage after the first lap.
Warriner closed the gap to take
the lead at the halfway stage and gradually worked clear to win in 2:06.37,
with the young Australian 31 seconds behind.
Eighteen-year-old Seear held on
for third just holding off the fast finishing Carney, who was making a comeback
after a year out of the sport with injury.
Defending champion Heather
Evans, the Sydney-domiciled Kiwi, finished sixth.
``It was a great result for me.
I would love to be able to go fulltime in the sport in an attempt to qualify
for the Olympics, and this result gives me that confidence. However I just
don’t have the financial backing to do it, so will do what I can this year.’’
Buchholz took out the men’s
under-23 honours ahead of Auckland’s Graham O’Grady while Carfrae claimed the
women’s title ahead Seear.
More than 350 New Zealanders
competed earlier in the national age group championships in a final trial for
world championship selection.
NOTE: Free-to-use image
available from www.fotopress.co.nz or
contact 09 3020033 or Ian Hepenstall at 021 613181.
Full results of the Oceania and
New Zealand races in elite and age group available on www.poprun.co.nz
Provisional results
SBS Oceania Championships,
elite men (all New Zealand unless stated):
Hamish Carter 1:51.15, 1; Chris
Hill 1:52:12, 2; Kris Gemmell 1:52.27, 3; Bevan Docherty 1:52.39, 4; Simon
Thompson (Australia) 1:52.57, 5; Craig Watson 1:53.11, 6; Ben Buchholz (Australia)
1:53.24, 7; Graham O’Grady 1:53.48, 8; Paul Matthews (Australia) 1:54.37,
9; Nick Hornman (Australia) 1:55.09, 10
Under-23: Ben Buchholz
(Australia) 1:53.24, 1; Graham O’Grady 1:53.48, 2; Paul Matthew (Australia)
1:54.37, 3.
Elite women: Sam Warriner 2:06.37, 1; Mikranda Carfrae (Australia) 2:07.06, 2; Maxine Seear (Australia) 2:07.49, 3; Gillian Moody (Canada) 2:07.54, 4; Emma Carney (Australia) 2:09.09, 5; Heather Evans 2:10.04, 6; Nikki Egyed (Australia) 2:10.49, 7; Debbie Tanner 2:11.14, 8; Anna Clever 2:12.49, 9; Ainslie Savage 2:16.08, 10.
Under-23: Carfrae 2:07.06, 1;
Seear 2:07.49, 2; Egyed 2:10.49, 3.
For further information
contact:
Ian Hepenstall
SBS Oceania Triathlon
Championships
Tel 021 613181