Double Olympic medalist Bevan Docherty headlines a powerful list of elite athletes, including fellow Beijing Olympians Shane Reed and Debbie Tanner and current Contact Cup leader Nicky Samuels at the final round of the Contact Tri Series in Wellington this Saturday.
The event doubles as the National Championship for standard distance racing and is an ITU Oceania Cup event, attracting high quality fields in all categories as in excess of 500 competitors line up over the 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run around the Wellington waterfront. Elite open and U23 categories will be draft legal, something sure to please the crowds lining the bike course around Oriental Parade.
The support cast isn't bad either with a host of emerging triathletes including former world mountain running champion Kate McIlroy (Wellington) on the start line as she looks to continue her rapid rise to the top of her new sport, following on from her superb fourth place finish at the Takapuna round in late February.
In the elite men Reed and Docherty will be challenged again by the next tier of triathletes looking to bridge the gap to the very best. Clark Ellice will want a repeat of his strong showing at the Oceania Championships on the Gold Coast ten days ago when he finished fourth while any one of Graham O'Grady (Hamilton), Tony Dodds (Wanaka), Martin van Barneveld (Wellington) and Callum Millward (Hawkes Bay) is capable of upsetting on the day.
For Docherty it is a chance to put the disappointment of Takapuna behind him after he withdrew with a rib injury.
"With Kris (Gemmell) not racing the actual title means a little less to me but any national title is good to win and it will be great to see Shane back on the start line.
"In Wellington the course usually sees the race come down to the run, although one testing factor can be the swim so we'll wait to see what the wind is doing to the chop, hopefully it is a nice calm day.
"The rib injury has settled down a lot after the disappointment of Takapuna but I am training hard at the moment, so hopefully the body can freshen up for Saturday. Apart from that everything is going well and I'm looking forward to racing."
For Reed the race marks the first competitive outing since his Olympic experience, during which he led the swim out of the water and rode aggressively in support of Kris Gemmell and eventual bronze medalist Docherty. Reed is looking forward to racing in Wellington, on the same course that he won on last year to win the Oceania title and help book his ticket to Beijing.
Tanner's battle with Samuels will be a highlight with the Auckland triathlete looking for further improvement after her earlier races in Kinloch and Takapuna produced only average results by Tanner's own high standards. Samuels meanwhile has been in great form during the Contact Tri Series and has an unbeatable points lead in the Contact Cup.
With qualification for the September World Championships on the line in all age group racing, the U23 fields are also world class.
Ryan Sissons (Auckland) is one of the form athletes of the late summer, his third in Takapuna followed up by a strong showing at the Oceania Championships when he took out the U23 title in finishing 5th overall in the elite race.
Christchurch's Jos Hoetjes will race following on from his win at the Oceania U19 Championships in Australia ten days ago. His challengers will come in the form of the well performed Curtayne twins Andrew and William (Auckland), Upper Hutt's Ben Christophers and fellow U19 athlete Tom Davison (Christchurch), but again there is quality throughout the field.
In the women's U23 category a fascinating battle looms between Jacqui Seebold (Auckland), Rebecca Kingsford (Tirau) and the in form Rebecca Spence (North Shore City) who will look to back up from her win in the Oceania U23 Championships. Kingsford is U19 but stepping up to the older age group to take on Seebold and Spence.
Age group racing will be fiercely competitive with qualifying spots on the line for the Gold Coast world championships in September. 500 athletes are expected to line up to vie for the chance to wear the silver fern in what is already looming as the biggest team to be sent offshore to a World Championship event.
Contact Tri Series
Waitangi Park
Wellington
Saturday 14th March
7.10am - Contact Trophy Men - age group National Championship
7.15am - Contact Trophy Women - age group National Championship
7.20am - Contact Trophy Teams
10.00am - Contact Cup Men Elite and U23 - including ITU Oceania Cup
10.05am - Contact Cup Women Elite and U23 - including ITU Oceania Cup
1pm - Prize Giving (National Champs Medals, Place getters, Spot prizes)
Over all Series Prize giving to take place at the Annual Awards dinner from 7pm.
