New women's duathlon world champion

New Zealand welcomed home its newest world champion this week. Stephanie Anderson arrived back in the capital on Saturday with the world title for duathlon in the 20-24 female age group.

The Duathlon World Championships were held in Rimini, Italy on September 27 and 28. Stephanie, who is originally from Wanganui but now lives and works in Wellington, has spent the past 18 months in training. Last year at the world championships in Hungary she placed ninth.

Duathlon consists of a 10km run, 40km bike and a 5km run. Rimini was a flat and fast course although slightly longer than the standard race distance.

"It was the race of my life. Coming off the first run I was third. On the fourth lap of six on the bike, I pulled first and second place in and gained a 40 second lead. I racked my bike first and held the Hungarian and Brazilian off on last run to win gold," Stephanie said.

"You should have seen me afterwards; there was nothing left in the tank. I couldn't eat for 24 hours. What made it worse was the results weren't confirmed until the following day. I didn't celebrate or tell anyone until I knew for definite. My Mum was on the phone from New Zealand and I told her not to tell anyone until it was official.

"I didn't go to Europe with expectations of winning. I hoped to place in the top five but was unsure whether this was a realistic goal. To come back with gold makes all the hard work worth while.

"My next challenge is the New Zealand Ironman in March. This achievement puts me in the right frame of mind and has enhanced my motivation levels. I don't know how I will go but I know I'm determined."

The New Zealand contingent to the World Duathlon Championships 2008 consisted of 47 athletes. In total there were three gold medals and one bronze medal achieved amongst the New Zealand age group competitors. The other two gold medallists, Struan Webb (18-19 age group) and Carolyn Martin (55-59 age group), are also from the Rangitikei region. Bronze medal winner, Ray Bennett (75-79 age group), is from Canterbury.