New Zealanders Braden Currie and Amelia Watkinson won home country titles at the Port of Tauranga Half on Saturday at Mount Maunganui.

Currie combined a 6th-best 24:09 swim, 3rd-best 2:09:57 bike split and a 3rd-best 1:12:57 half marathon run to finish in 3:52:26. This gave him a 1:34 margin of victory over runner-up and fellow Kiwi Mark Bowstead, and 10-time Port of Tauranga winner Cameron Brown made it an all-New Zealand podium, finishing 3rd with a 2:40 deficit to the winner.

Watkinson led an all-New Zealand podium with a women’s 2nd-best 26:24 swim, women's-best 2:22:07 bike split and women's-best 1:23:06 run to finish in 4:16:26, with a 12:51 margin of victory over runner-up Candice Hammond and 14:20 ahead of 3rd-place finisher Rebecca Fogarty.

Port of Tauranga Half
Mount Maunganui, New Zealand
January 9, 2016
S 1.2 mi. / B 56 mi. / R 13.1 mi.

Results

Men

1. Braden Currie (NZL) 3:52:26
2. Mark Bowstead (NZL) 3:54:00
3. Cameron Brown (NZL) 3:55:06
4. Daniel Plews (GBR) 3:57:47
5. Simon Cochrane (NZL) 4:03:05

Women

1. Amelia Watkinson (NZL) 4:16:26
2. Candice Hammond (NZL) 4:29:17
3. Rebecca Fogarty (NZL) 4:30:46
4. Julia Grant (NZL) 4:34:12
5. Larisa Cochrane (NZL) 4:39:27