BELOW:
• Robbo, Snowsill in a runaway at Worlds
• Brown, Keat repeat in Port of Tauranga
• Carter, Evans are Oceania champs
• Five straight for Cam Brown
• Kiwi Paul Amey set to switch to Britain
• Baker gets New Zealand torch relay honor
• New Zealand duathlon titles to Bailey, Cop
• Kiwi Olympians get the budget chop
• Kiwis name four Olympians
• British, Kiwi feds both without their competent PR workers
• No NZ citizenship for Rina Hill
• Australia's Rina Hill switches alliances to New Zealand
Robbo, Snowsill each in a runaway at Worlds
December 8, 2003, Queenstown, NEW ZEALAND
The absence of Aussie sensation Craig Walton meant that the swim would be a formality for those traditionally out of the water in the first chase pack. Walton was reportedly granted a wild card from the ITU, and then had it rescinded. That meant that better than 40 men exited the water within 20 seconds of swim leader Richard Stannard of Britain.
Courtney Atkinson went solo for the first of seven laps of the bike. Olivier Marceau (SUI) and Bevan Docherty (NZ) led pursuers, and the two front-runners became seven.
That lead pack of swimmers needed two laps to bring back the leaders, but the action was just starting. Former world champs Peter Robertson (AUS) and Olivier Marceau (FRA) the latter of whom spent all forty kilometers at or near the front, solo'd to a 30-second lead by the race's halfway point.
That lead grew to almost two minutes by the bike-to-run transition, and it appeared gold and silver were theirs, as both have stellar run credentials. But neither has run at level of Spain's Ivan Rana over the past year, and Marceau fell victim to his own hard work on the bike. Rana passed him on lap-three of the four-lap run course, and moved to within 30 seconds of Robertson, as Kiwis Bevan Docherty and Hamish Carter closed on Marceau.
Peter Robertson stopped the bleeding, and held off Rana to win the 2003 Triathlon World Champion title by 24 seconds. Ivan Rana settled for second to Robbo—the reverse of last year's World Championship finish.
Olivier Marceau had his best finish since his 2000 Triathlon World Championship title, as he held on for third. Places 4 to 6 went to the hometown heros—Bevan Docherty, Hamish Carter and Craig Watson.
Doug Friman (Tucson, Ariz.) was the top U.S. finisher in 22nd. Joe Umphenour (Bellevue, Wash.), the second-ranked man in the United States, placed 30th.
The women's race, on the other hand, did feature breakaway swimmers. Barb Lindquist (USA) led through the entire swim and exited with a 12-second lead over her teammate Sheila Taormina. A large chase group, led by Michellie Jones (AUS), started the bike with a 30 second deficit.
Lindquist waited for Taormina during the early stage of the bike in order to form the duo at the front which has been a formidable force at many World Cup events this season.
With Michellie Jones at the helm of the chase pack, Lindquist and Taormina were not able to get away, as Jones pulled a group of eight up to close the gap to the leaders. It was at this point that pre-race favourites Anja Dittmer of Germany and Jill Savege of Canada were in a bike accident which put Dittmer out of the race and seriously handicapped Savege's chances.
With Jones in the chase pack were her Aussie teammates Emma Snowsill and Liz Blatchford, along with American teammates Laura Reback and Becky Gibbs-Lavelle and Joelle Franzmann of Germany.
The chase pack took 25 seconds off the leaders on the first lap when Sheila Taormina dropped back, leaving Lindquist alone at the front. The chase group caught Lindquist on the third lap to form a group of eight at the front.
The chase group now became a large group of 22, just over a minute back. It included Canada's Carol Montgomery, Brazil's Mariana Ohata, Tracy Looze of the Netherlands, Beatrice Lanza of Italy, Susan Williams of the USA , Erika Molnar of Hungary, and Akiko Sekine of Japan.
The leaders stretched the gap on the chase pack to over two minutes as they entered the last lap of the bike, and with so many great runners among the leaders, it was anyone's guess as to the final outcome.
The leaders came into the bike to run transition together with a 1:45 lead on the chase pack. The Americans (Reback, Lindquist and Taormina) were first through T2 onto the 4 lap, 10km run course, followed by Franzmann, Jones and Gibbs-Lavelle.
Emma Snowsill ran through the field after a slow transition to take over the lead at the front as Reback and Taormina tried to stay with her and Lindquist dropped back to 4th.
But there was no stopping Snowsill has she increased her lead by as much as 25 seconds a lap. By the halfway point the battle for the other two steps on the podium was taking place behind Snowsill with Lindquist, Jones and Reback running shoulder to shoulder.
Snowsill romped home to claim the 2003 World title by an overwhelming margin of 1:23. Reback (North Palm Beach, Fla.), the 2003 U.S. national champion, was second in 2:08:03, outsprinting Olympic silver medallist Michellie Jones for third by three seconds.
“It was hard.” said Reback of the race. "After that bike, my legs were just dead. I didn’t think I could cope with the pace that Emma set, so I locked on in there with Barb and Michellie on the run. Barb was setting the tempo and they kept dropping me on the hills. But I just hung in and managed to put together a good finish.”
Lindquist, who finished second at the 2002 world championships, felt positive about her fourth-place finish. “I had a solid race, it just didn’t work out for me,” Lindquist said. “It’s a bit of bummer to miss a medal, but I felt strong out there and gave it everything I had.” Lindquist will keep her ranking and finishes the season at No. 1.
Overall, the results were very positive for the U.S. women. Five out of six of the U.S. women in the race finished in the top 20. Joanna Zeiger (Boulder, Colo.), who was coming back from illness and injury this season, placed 11th. Taormina was 12th. Becky Gibbs Lavelle (Cupertino, Calif.) raced with the lead pack on the bike and placed 15th.
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Brown, Keat repeat in Port of Tauranga
January 7, 2003, Port of Tauranga, NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand's Cameron Brown made it a remarkable six in a row at Saturday's Port of Tauranga half-Ironman, which doubled as the New Zealand championships over the middle distance. Second-place went to Olympian Craig Watson, whose scorching 1:11 half-marathon moved him into the No. 2 spot. Third went to Kieran Doe, with Nathan Richmond and Nick Saunders rounding out the top five.
Aussie Rebekah Keat also repeated in the women's race, with New Zealand's Nicole Cope taking second. Olympic-distance specialist Evelyn Williamson was third, with Ironman specialist Jo Lawn in fourth and second-year pro Lynley Allison fifth.
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Carter, Evans are Oceania champs
March 25, 2002, Port of Tauranga, NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand's Hamish Carter and Kris Gemmell raced to first and second place and two berths on the Commonwealth Games squad at the ITU Oceania and New Zealand Triathlon Championships in Queenstown on Saturday.
The race, held at the Millbrook Resort, saw Carter turn in the day's fastest run to finish 40 seconds clear of the rising star Gemmell, who held the top place going out on the run. Gemmell's finishing sprint brought him home two seconds ahead of fast-closing countryman Craig Watson, who earned his ticket to the Manchester games last year.
In the women's race, Heather Evans of New Zealand crossed the finish line nearly a minute ahead of countrywoman Samantha Warriner, earning herself a place on the Commonwealth Games squad. Evans, fourth off the bike, turned in a 38:50 run split, the day's fastest, to seal her win.
The race also doubled as the New Zealand national championships, qualifying age-groupers to race at the ITU world championships in Cancun, Mexico.
(RESULTS)
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Five straight for Cam Brown
January 7, 2002, Mt. Maunganui, NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand's Cameron Brown took the Port of Tauranga Half-Ironman—and his country's national half-Ironman championship—on Sunday, his fifth win in a row at the race. He finished four minutes clear of Auckland's Brent Foster in second. Brown was fifth out of the water behind swim leader Foster, and took the lead on the bike. He rounded out the race with a 1:16 half-marathon and an overall finish time of 3:51. Scott Ballance rounded out the top three.
"It was quite windy, and I had a few problems before the swim, but I was up on the last lap of the bike," Brown told the New Zealand Herald.
In the women's race, victory went to Australia's Rebekah Keat, who finished in 4:18, nearly nine minutes clear of New Zealand's Shanelle Barrett. Linley Allison of Auckland came third. Robin Roocke of Australia, the defending champion, finished fifth.
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Kiwi Paul Amey set to switch to Britain
October 4, 2000, Auckland, New Zealand (www.slowtwitch.com):
Triathlon New Zealand is about to lose one of its best competitors to the British Triathlon Association -- if Paul Amey indeed declares before January 1 to follow the lineage of his England-born father and switch countries.
The news was revealed by the New Zealand Press Association today.
Amey, 27, feels he has at least another six years to go as a world-class triathlete. He sees better opportunities to make a living out of England, than by staying in New Zealand.
In order to qualify as an English teammember for the Commonwealth Games in 2002, or for the 2004 Olympics by the British Olympic Association, he needs to declare his intentions by December 31.
He told NZPA: "It's a hard decision for me to make, but the bottom line is it comes down to making a living. I'm still going to be doing this sport for at least another six years, so it is probably better for me to base myself in Great Britain and to become part of the European [triathlon] community.
"I've made a bit of a name for myself in Europe so I'm better off to try and pick up some more sponsors over there."
Amey has already spoken to BTA officials about making the switch. A year ago the BTA put in rules for athletes who do assume dual-nationalities and apply for British passports. They must wait one year from arriving before they can qualify to benefit from the BOA's World Class Performance Plan, which includes salaries that allow them full-time triathlete status plus travel and accomodation to World Cup and Euroepan Championship racing.
He could race World Cup events in British colors in 2001, but he would not be eligible for BTA teams in either the European Championships or World Championships in his first year as a Brit. He would be eligible to compete for the British title in his first year, however.
Amey has already spent much of the last few years away from New Zealand, where prize money and sponsorship opportunities are limited. For the last four years he has divided his time between Queensland's Gold Coast and Europe.
The runner-up in the 1998 World Triathlon Championships, he missed qualifying for New Zealand's Olympic team when he was sidelined last spring with a leg injury.
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Baker gets New Zealand torch relay honor
May 30, 2000, Christchurch, New Zealand (www.slowtwitch.com):
By the time it takes her to run her leg of the Olympic Torch relay as it passes through New Zealand from June 5 to 7, Erin Baker probably won't be able to figure out whether she was selected for her politics or her sports.
It doesn't matter that they mix on June 5, because that's her life these days anyway. Known for her dozen-plus years at the top as triathlon's guttiest competitor, Baker is now a mother of two and -- in the public eye again -- sits on the Christchurch city council.
She is the only triathlete to carry the torch on its New Zealand journey. More than 300 Kiwis are carrying the torch, several of them Olympians. But Baker, who could race from sprint to the Ironman distance, retired from triathlon before it became an Olympic sport.
On the same day (June 5) that Baker runs her leg through Christchurch's Burnside Park, two other Christchurch torchbearers are Robin Judkins and Steve Guerney. Judkins is the organizer of the Coast-to-Coast race, one of New Zealand's original "adventure races," and Guerney is an endurance specialist and multi-time Coast-to-Coast winner.
Baker will be instructed to run at a speed of 8.5k km per hour. That is, she will be running all of 350 meters before handing off to the next runner. "It's not that big a deal," she said.
It's the first time for an Olympic torch to touch down in New Zealand. It arrives by Air New Zealand aircraft after touring 12 Oceania countries in the South Pacific. Queenstown, Christchurch, Wellington, Rotorua and Auckland are the New Zealand cities where the relay travels. From there, the torch flies to Australia for the 100-day countdown to the Sydney Olympics.
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New Zealand duathlon titles to Bailey, Cope
May 30, 2000, Palmerston North, New Zealand (www.slowtwitch.com):
Christchurch's Mark Bailey, who has made a name for himself locally last year by winning various winter duathlon races, rose to the national ranks suddenly on Sunday when he won the New Zealand Duathlon Championships over a field of better-known athletes.
Contrasting Bailey's win as a relative unknown, Auckland's Nicole Cope picked up her third straight national title.
Athletes relished the fine conditions and lack of no wind for the 10km run, 42km cycle, 5km run course based at the Massey University. The 24-year-old Bailey led from start to finish, but was pushed hard.
On the first run Bailey was matched stride for stride by Lower Hutt Junior Graeme Stone. The pair had a meagre seven-second lead over mountain running champion Aaron Strong (Kawerau) at the start of the cycle. Two seconds back came defending champion Graeme Pearson (Rotorua) and Wellington's Austin Parker.
Bailey had moved 1 minute 48 seconds clear of Pearson at the end of the cycle, with Strong a further 20 seconds back. Stone couldn't keep up with the pace on the bike, and dropped out. Strong charged hard over the final 5km run reducing Bailey's winning margin to only 17 seconds, leaving third place for Pearson.
Cope established a one minute 10 second lead over Linley Avant-Smith, a former South African, during the opening run. The lead was stretched to 3:45 during the hilly cycle. Paraparaumu Coast's Denise Allen used the cycle to move into second with Dunedin's Amanda West only seconds behind.
Cope increased her margin to more than six minutes on the final run with Allen holding out West for third place. Hometown girl Anna Filer claimed the junior women's title.
For men, 16-year-old Aucklander Terenzo Bozzone took the junior title and 10th place overall. Bozzone's efforts all the more impressive given it was his first race of this distance.
More than 130 athletes competed in the Triathlon New Zealand championship event, which doubled as a selection race for the ITU World Duathlon Champs in Calais, France, on October 8th. (Source: Gary Boyd).
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Kiwi Olympians get the budget chop
May 19, 2000, Christchurch, New Zealand (www.slowtwitch.com):
The four New Zealand triathletes named earlier this week as Olympians aren't rated as potential medalists -- according to the New Zealand Sports Foundation chief who has cut their pre-Sydney training budgets accordingly.
Whereas Triathlon New Zealand coach John Hellemans believed that there would be funding for a high-altitude training camp in Switzerland, he now has learned that, if the triathletes want that, they will have to pay for it on their own.
Said the Sports Foundation's Chris Ineson, speaking to the New Zealand Herald: "We made the rules very clear to every sport some 15 to 18 months ago, that athletes who are medal prospects for Sydney will get preferential treatment.
"The reality is that triathlon has fallen off the pace in the last 18 months. Evelyn Williamson was ranked in the top three when we picked her up 18 months ago. She's not there by any means at the moment.
"Hamish (Carter), who is No.1 in the world, was fifth in Perth two weeks ago."
The four Olympians - Williamson, Carter, Ben Bright and Craig Watson - have been given personal grants this week, but nothing more. Hellemans believes that their Olympic preparations could be hindered if they are asked to pay for the Swiss experience themselves.
As a further sting to Hellemans, who has run the coaching program at the New Zealand Triathlon Academy the last several years, Ineson added that he didn't believe the academy had produced enough satisfactory results.
The four triathletes and their coaches will have a crisis meeting in May 29 to discuss their options.
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Kiwis name four Olympians
May 16, 2000, Gisborne, New Zealand (www.slowtwitch.com):
Four triathletes -- three men and one woman -- have been nominated by Triathlon New Zealand as Sydney Olympians: world No. 1 Hamish Carter, No. 23 Craig Watson, No. 61 Ben Bright, and No. 28 Evelyn Williamson.
Left off the list are Rina Hill, whose citizenship appeal didn't come through in time; No. 41 Jenny Rose; No. 13 Shane Reed; and No. 17 Jamie Hunt.
Bright, fifth in the Sydney World Cup, was an automatic selection by placing in the top 5 of one of two selection races, the April 16 Sydney World Cup and the April 30 ITU World Championships. Once his place was secured, he didn't race the Worlds. Carter was the next automatic selection because of his fourth-place finish at Worlds.
Watson, sixth in Sydney, was given the nod over Hunt, eighth in Sydney, because the Sydney race -- which simulated the Olympics as was triathlon's Olympic Test Event -- carried more weight with the selectors.
However, Hunt felt he should have been chosen as the third man, because he finished 11th in the Worlds to Watson's 27th in Worlds. "I finished in the top 15 twice, so I'm a little upset," Hunt told the New Zealand Herald.
Nonetheless, Hunt is the team's first reserve, so will train with the Kiwis at their pre-Olympics camp in Switzerland.
Rose is understandably disappointed as well, as she has been a longtime representative in New Zealand triathlon. However, her form has been off this year. She was 40th in the ITU World Championships, and a DNF in the ITU World Cup in Sydney -- the two main races that federation selectors based their decisions on. Rose also had only a single additional top-10 ITU World Cup result in the last two years.
Williamson didn't actually meet the selectors' stated criteria (top-15 finishes in the two races) -- she took 18th and 33rd. But she was Triathlon New Zealand's first choice, when No. 6 Hill failed to switch her citizenship from Australia to New Zealand in time for the Olympic decisions.
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No New Zealand citizenship for Rina Hill
February 20, 2000, Auckland, New Zealand (www.slowtwitch.com):
Australian Rina Hill, the world's No. 10-ranked triathlete who has intentions of racing in the Olympics for New Zealand, has had her case for New Zealand citizenship turned back.
Married to a Kiwi for five years, she expected her application to encounter no problems after she first filed papers last fall. She raced in New Zealand colors during the 2000 ITU Oceania Regional Championships in Gisborne, New Zealand, on January 3, after Triathlon Australia gave its approval for her to switch her allegiance -- and all her world-ranking points -- to New Zealand.
Although she has lived in Auckland only since December, and is currently training in her native Queensland, she is shocked that citizenship was denied.
According to Triathlon New Zealand's Ian Hepenstall, the citizenship was expected to be the final stage needed to gain Olympic clearance - although there were reported challenges from several national triathlon federations concerned at her qualification process and Olympic-qualifying points already earned as an Australian representative.
Hill's New Zealand citizenship application was turned down by the
Minister of Immigration, although no explanation was given. Now, Triathlon New Zealand has appealed the decision on Hill's behalf, enlisting legal help in its bid to have her case reheard.
"There seems to be no grounds for turning her down," said Graham Park, Triathlon New Zealand's elite program manager. "She has been married (to Alister) for five years and you would think she would be able to just walk in and get it.''
Park, according to Hepenstall, hoped the nature of the professional athlete's existence would be taken into count. "Maybe they see that she hasn't had a permanent base in Auckland. But there are a lot of factors that have to be considered. So much of her competition and training has to be done offshore.''
Park said Triathlon New Zealand was hopeful the case would be reconsidered in time for the New Zealand Olympic Committee to discuss her eligibility for the Sydney Olympics in September.
"I'm very disappointed, everyone is," Hill told reporter Marc
Hinton of the Sunday Star Times on February 20. "I was so shocked. I
did everything they asked of me, including getting the support of some
MPs on the North Shore. It all happened very quickly."
Hill added she will continue to represent New Zealand in the Australian
series, World Cup and World Championships.
"I've got to let my performances speak for me. It's all I can do. I've
signed up with New Zealand now and I can't go back to Australia now."
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Australia's Rina Hill switches alliances to New Zealand
January 3, 2000, Gisborne, New Zealand (www.slowtwitch.com):
Four years ago, Rina Hill married a New Zealander. Last month, she moved to Auckland. Now the world's No. 10-ranked triathlete wants New Zealand citizenship of her own.
She also wants a place on New Zealand's Olympic team, which is why she has quietly gone about arranging for Triathlon Australia to give its conditional blessing for her to take all her Olympic-qualifying points with her when she makes the switch. She expects her citizenship application to be approved swiftly by April.
But the word got out, and by the time she showed up for the ITU Oceania Regional Triathlon Championships at Gisborne, she was wearing Kiwi colors and chatting amicably with her new Kiwi teammates.
"It was a difficult decision because I've represented Australia for quite a number of years now, both in running and in triathlon, and when you sign on for another country it's a permanent decision," she told The Press newspaper in Auckland. "But to me, there's not much difference between New Zealand and Australia. It's not like I'll be representing Zimbabwe or something like that."
Had she won the whole race, she would have put herself squarely before the New Zealand selectors by earning her new country a coveted automatic slot for the Sydney Olympics. But she came third, and Australia -- via surprise winner Melissa Ashton -- nabbed that slot, although it will technically pass back to the ITU to decide what to do with it, because Australia already has three female Olympic qualifiers through the world rankings system.
Hill may have not have pulled off all that she wanted to last Monday. But she did get something that is also quiet coveted in the world of triathlon -- a national title. This time, though, it's for New Zealand.
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