A 21 strong New Zealand team will race this weekend at the World Duathlon Championships in Concord, North Carolina USA with Sam Warriner a surprise entry in the elite women’s race.
The team is made up largely of age group athletes but Warriner is further expanding her CV in a year that has seen her experiment with Half Ironman races as well as picking up the World Aquathlon title at the recent Gold Coast World Championships.
Warriner is joined by three others in elite racing, with Nathan Coombes and Nick Rennie competing in the U19 category while David Cooper will race in the U23 men’s event.
All racing will take place on the Saturday local time, albeit Concord is behind 16 hours behind New Zealand so results will be available Sunday New Zealand time. Racing is over 10km run, 40km bike and a 5km run to the finish.
Athletes earned their selection at the qualifying event in Christchurch earlier this year in the Contact Duathlon Series and have since been working towards their big day wearing the silver fern.
The athletes range in age from Tessa Walker in the 18-19 category through to John Wood who races in the 70-74 category. They represent a wide range of regions in New Zealand with Canterbury (6), Marlborough (1), Wellington (2), Kapiti (4), Taranaki (1) and North Harbour (1) all proudly sending duathletes away.
For further information on the ITU World Duathlon Championships, click here.
2009 Duathlon World Championships: New Zealand Team
Concord, North Carolina, USA
Elite Athletes
- Nathan Coombes U19
- Nick Rennie U19
- David Cooper U23
- Samantha Warriner Elite Women Whangarei
Age Group Athletes
- Tessa Walker 18-19F Canterbury
- Matt Milne 18-19M Canterbury
- Kelly Parlane 20-24F North Harbour
- Adam Milne 20-24M Canterbury
- Sam Letham 20-24M Canterbury
- Daniel Clout 25-29M Taranaki
- Joshua Scott 25-29M Marlborough
- Damon Peachey 30-34M Wellington
- Rhonda Turner 35-39F Kapiti
- Myles Cockburn 35-39M Overseas
- Nicola Sproule 40-44F Auckland City
- Murray Doughty 45-49M Wellington
- Brenda Fortune 55-59F Canterbury
- Christine Todd 55-59F Canterbury
- Harold Robinson 60-64M Kapiti
- Ann Bould 65-69M Kapiti
- John Wood 70-74M Kapiti
