Dennis wins triathlon

Press, 5 August 1985, Page 26

Dennis wins triathlon

Dave Dennis, leading from start to finish, won his second triathlon in a fortnight yesterday when he dominated the DB Double Brown event in the smart time of 3hr smin 50s. He crossed the finishing line at Denton Park Bmin 56s ahead of the well-per-formed Canterbury cyclist, John Hughes. Two weeks ago, Dennis had a fourminute winning margin in the Bridge-To-Bay triathlon. Hughey had a desperate battle for second place with Alan Roxburgh. Hughes got home by a mere second, after a neck-and-neck sprint to the line. Dennis’s strongest suit is paddling and at the end of the first leg, an Bkm paddle ending at Purau Bay, he had

established a handy 2Ya minute advantage over Alan Roxburgh. Hughes was at minutes.

The closeness of competition can be gauged by the four competitors who came out of the water from ninth to twelfth places, Sandy Sandblom, Andrew Macbeth, Tony Hood, and Lance Blackler. Less than one minute separated the quartet. Hughes was, predictably, the fastest athlete over the 63km cycling leg, through Teddington, over Gebbies Pass to Kaituna, ending at Halswell. He completed the leg in Ihr 40min, yet only managed to shave 14 seconds off Dennis’s advantage over him. At the end of the cycling, Dennis had a five minute lead over Roxburgh, with only Hughes (at Bmin 15s), Hood (llmin), Blackler (14:50s), Macbeth (15min), Sandblom and John Howard within 20 minutes of the leader. The fastest competitor

over the 13km running course around Hoon Hay and Halswell was the 55-year-old Eric Hunter, in 49min 245. He edged out Hood by just three seconds. Sandblom, who won the veteran section, covered the distance in 49min 495, 40 seconds ahead of Dennis, with Hughes a little under a minute slower. The women’s section was won by Katrina Stewart. She crossed the line in twenty-first place, with a time of 4hrs Imin 15s. Results.—

Over all: D. Dennis 3:5:50s 1, J. Hughes 3:14:46s 2; A. Roxburgh 3:14:47s 3; J. Howard 3:20:12s 4; T. Hood 3:23:15s 5; J. Sandblom 3:23:41s 6; L. Blackler 3:24:37s 7; 7; A. Macbeth 3:25:40s 8; R. Prince 3:27:34s 9, G. Luxton 3:35:26s 10. Veteran: Sandblom 1. B. Forsyth 2 (twelfth over all), E. Hunter 3 (thirteenth over all). Junior: Macbeth 1. Women: K. Stewart 4:01:15s 1 (twenty-first over all).