Roxburgh takes triathlon

Press, 22 October 1986, Page 36

Roxburgh takes triathlon

Alan Roxburgh quickly established a handy lead that was not threatened in the Mainland spring triathlon round the Port Hills on Sunday. The race started in wet and windy conditions at Corsair Bay. Roxburgh skilfully negotiated the 7km course — the first leg — heading some competent surf life-savers in the process, including Eric Leask and Dean Waru. Roxburgh completed the canoe leg in 37min 59s with Leask second in 38:46. The first woman to complete the canoe leg was Tui Elliott in 53:59. Next was Jane Reeves in 55:46. Roxburgh extended his lead on the cycle section, and entering the cycle-run transition the only competitor ahead of him was the New Zealand cycling representative, Jon Andrews, who was competing in the teams event and not as an individual. The closest individual to Roxburgh was Steve Gurney, and he was 7|/£ minutes behind. Reeves, who had taken the lead in the women’s section, was 20 minutes clear of her nearest rival at the transition. Roxburgh maintained a good pace on the run section, aware that Gurney was faster. Meanwhile Bruce Baxter extended his team’s lead although he was being chased by Gary Donaldson and Peter Renner. Baxter ran doggedly and

his team won the section, finishing in Ihr 49min 345. He conceded only 17s to Renner on the 10km run. Roxburgh was just under six minutes behind the winning team. He finished in 1:56.31, six minutes ahead of Gurney. Andy Macßeth, Roxburgh’s coach, was third. The top under-18 team of David Moore, Jonathon Rico and John Greenwood was fifth over-all in the team’s section in 1:59.20. Reeves was an easy winner of the women’s section in 2:33.04. The first veteran was Eric Hunter in 2:19.05. James Davy was the first under "18 individual entry. Results: Men Open. A. Roxburgh, 1:56.31, 1; S. Gurney 2:02.32, 2; A. Macßeth, 2:04.12, 3; S. Routledge, 2:13.09, 4; D. Symonds, 2:13.12, 5. Veterans: E. Hunter, 2:19.05, 1; H. Davy, 2:22.45, 2. Under 18: J. Davy, 3:09.58, 1. Teams: D. Waru, J. Andrews, B. Baxter, 1:49.34, 1; E. Leask, D. O’Keefe, G. Donaldson, 1:51.37, 2; P. Hasson, P. James, P. Renner, 1:53.12, 3. Under 18 teams: D. Moore, J. Rico, J. Greenwood, 1:59.20, 1. Women Open. J. Reeves, 2:33.04, 1. Open teams: T. Elliott, D. Robertson, A. Kennedy, 2:19.29, 1.