Leader Dominant in National School Triathlon in Gisborne

Jaimee Leader (Palmerston North Girls High) was dominant in winning the U19 Girls race. 

Leader simply smashed the opposition to win by just under 11 minutes in one of the more dominant performances the event has ever seen. Leader was almost 10 minutes clear after the swim, with the rest of the field being blown off course and in towards the beach before negotiating their way back out to the marker buoy.

Tayler Reid received a truly special welcome as he crossed the line to win back to back National School Triathlon titles in his home town of Gisborne today; the pre-race favourite was met as he crossed the line by a Haka delivered by his Gisborne Boys High school mates in a unique and special moment in the sport.

Reid dominated the U19 Boys event, winning by close to 3 minutes from Leo Roper (McLeans College) and Liam Ward (St Kentigern College), continuing a great summer for the National Talent Squad triathlete during which he earned selection to the ITU Elite Junior World Championships in Edmonton in September.

Conditions proved daunting, especially in the water with a good swell and strong winds leading to some big waves and tough racing for the athletes, with some competitors finding the swim too tough to overcome while others like Reid and Leader showed their strength to put big margins on their opponents.

The U16 races were won by Rose Dillon (Auckland Diocesan) and Dan Hoy (Westlake Boys High). Dillon had to wait to savour the win though, having an initial protest against her upheld and then dismissed on appeal. In the U14 events Zach Taylor and Olivia Cronin (Gisborne Girls High School) ran out winners in good conditions. The U13 winners were Dylan McCullough (St Kentigern College) and Sophie Wilkinson (Baradene College) and in the U12 events, Noya Oporto and Andrew Matthews took out the gold medals on offer.

Following on from the individual events schools took to teams racing in the afternoon, with many athletes backing up after racing in the morning. Conditions though dictated that the team events were transferred to the pool, with swimmers setting off at set intervals and total times measured to find the overall winning teams.

The National Schools Triathlon festival continues with the Aquathlon (swim/run) and Super Sprint Teams (2 boys/2 girls) on Friday before the National Schools Open Water Swim Championships wraps up the event on Saturday morning.

For results in all races  CLICK HERE