Young champ earns squad spot

From being not much of a swimmer to Auckland champion in her grade, a young Howick triathlete chews up the kilometres. Andrea Jutson reports.
Two years ago, St Kentigern College student Hayleigh Niterl could barely swim a length. Now, she's aiming for the Olympics. Every weekend this summer, Hayleigh will be competing in one triathlon or another. Although her performance at Rotorua last month didn't go quite as she wished, it's hardly surprising, as she'd been competing solidly right up until the event. Hayleigh's weekly routine includes four hour-long swim sessions, four cycle sessions and five runs. She's just 15 - and even teens run out of energy. Not to mention that she is still recovering from a back injury she sustained during a cycle crash that put her out of action for several months. For someone who used to freeze up in the pool, the rising star from Howick is doing well. Hayleigh is the Auckland intermediate girls triathlon champion and a national development squad member, winner of the Auckland tag team championship, and third in the nationals. However, her proudest moment is not what you might expect it to be. It was her sixth placing at a competition last year. After placing 33rd in the swim leg Hayleigh fought back to eighth after the cycle leg, and sixth at the end of the run. ``It wasn't my best placing, but it was a really big achievement for me,'' she says. Not yet 16 - her birthday's in May - South African-born Hayleigh already stands 1.80m tall (5ft 11in) which, without doubt, gives her a handy stride in the run stages. Hayleigh is also a model, although she'd much rather stand on a winner's podium than on a fashion runway. Winning at sport is something you earn, she says. ``I like the reward at the end.'' This will be her first NCEA year, which she says might make things tougher. ``We'll see ...'' It's the support of her parents, both ``sporty people'', who make it all possible. As Hayleigh's not yet old enough to drive, it's Mum and Dad who take her to triathlons around the country. Nathan Richmond, a former St Kent's triathlete, inspired Hayleigh to take up the sport when she was 13. She'd always been a runner, but confesses running on its own had lost its lustre for her. No time for her to be bored now. She's just returned from the Kinloch national competition, and is off to another one, in Napier, next weekend, February 17.