Elite athletes return to win surfbreaker triathlon

Nicole van der Kaay winning the 2020 Women's Elite section of the Eves Surfbreaker Triathlon at Mount Maunganui. Photo: Julie Maree Photography

Nicole van der Kaay was all smiles as she flew across the finish line at today's Eves Surfbreaker Triathlon at Mount Maunganui.

The Women's Elite Race winner won in a time of 59 minutes and 22 seconds. She previously won the race in 2017.

Second in the Women's Elite Race is Rebecca Spence with a finish time of 00:59:28 and third is Ainsley Thorpe with a finish time of 01:00:50.

Ainsley came in fourth place in 2019 with a finish time of 01:10:50 and was in third place in 2017 with a finish time of 00:59:07.

Hayden Wilde winning the 2020 Men's Elite section of the Eves Surfbreaker Triathlon at Mount Maunganui. Photo: Julie Maree Photography

Winner of the Men's Elite Race which had 18 entrants is Hayden Wilde with a finish time of 00:53:28. Hayden has improved on his 2019 finish time of 01:00:18 when he also won this race. Second is Tayler Reid with a finish time of 00:53:49 and third is Dylan McCullough with a time of 00:55:22.

In 2017, Hayden was in fourth place, with Tayler winning that race with a finish time of 00:54:22 and Dylan coming in fifth.

Hayden, who has his sights set on the Commonwealth Games and Olympic Games has had an intense week of competition running the Athletics NZ 5000m race and competing in the Manawatu Triathlon Festival last weekend.

The surf was flat and calm this morning for the annual Surfbreaker Triathlon which attracted over 200 entrants.

This iconic race has been on the calendar since 1985, making it one of NZ's oldest races. An annual event, the triathlon has two distances, and is held on Mount Maunganui's main beach.

Winner of the Men's Sprint Race is Henry McMecking with a finish time of 01:01:22. Second is Cameron Maunder with a finish time of 01:01:30, and third is Liam Miller with a time of 01:02:38.

Olivia Cummings has won the Women's Sprint Race with a finish time of 01:07:47. Morgan Overington is second with a finish time of 01:09:54 and third is Deborah Fuller with a finish time of 01:09:59.

There were 117 entrants in the men's and women's Sprint Race.

The Super Sprint Men's race was won by Lucas Reed (00:31:55) with George Wyllie coming in second (00:32:49) and Matthew Kirkwood third (00:32:55).

The Super Sprint Women's race was won by Lulu Johnson (00:33:24), with Hayley Cornwall taking second place (00:33:36) and Poppy Rae-McGregor in third place (00:35:27).

There were 43 entrants in the men's and women's Super Sprint Race.

A 375m swim, 7km bike ride and 2.5km run make up the shorter ‘Super Sprint' course, and a 750m swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run is the longer ‘Sprint' distance for the family friendly event.

The ‘Elite Athletes' battle it out in a unique six-legged ‘Super League' style race which consists of a 375m swim, 10km bike ride, 2.5km run, 375m swim, 10km bike ride and 2.5km run – which is a sprint distance triathlon split into two continuous triathlons.

Eight teams entered the Sprint Teams race, with Zox coming first with a finish time of 01:12:20. The Reuben team came second (01:12:21) and Team Skippy took third place (01:18:12).

The Aquathon, which involves a 750m swim followed by a 5km run had six entries with the Men's Aquathon won by Brent Gilbert-de Rios with a finish time of 00:39:55. Second was Daniel Rebolledo (00:48:04) and third was Rohan Graaff (00:50:23).

The Women's Aquathon was won by Dana Purdy with a finish time of 00:37:26. Second was Bella-Rose Lloyd with a finish time of 00:40:07. Dana and Bello-Rose were the only two female entries so there is no third placegetter.

The Aquathon Teams race attracted one entrant – the Aqua Team which finished in first and only place in a finish time of 00:39:16.

The organisers of the event were asked by the Department of Conservation to make everyone aware of the dotterels nesting on the Mount Main beach. A similar colour to the sand, these small birds are hard to spot when still, and are an endangered species.

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