Duathon: Siblings beat spouses in long-course duathlon

Jessica Dean approaches the finish line in the female long-course race. Photo/George Novak

A brother-and-sister act has trumped a husband-and-wife team in the first of five Smiths Sports Shoes duathlon winter races held at The Lakes yesterday morning.

Maketu pairing Bobby and Jessica Dean ran away with the respective mens and womens long-course races, beating home Matt and Sarah Backler, who dominated the events last year.

Bobby always looked a decent chance of taking out the mens race, with Jessicas rapid final 3.8km proving the biggest surprise as she reeled in Sarah after trailing coming off the bike.

Jessica, who has only recently taken up the sport after deciding to follow in her brothers footsteps, strode out down the stretch to win by a comfortable 30 seconds.

Bobby won by almost three minutes in a performance that proves his preparations for his second Ironman in March next year are progressing well.

"I live over in Maketu, so dont make it over for much of the triathlon stuff," Bobby said after his win in his debut at the event.

"Iv'e seen [Matt] in races, but hes normally in front of me. Hes had a month off by the sounds of things and I had a chance to get in front of him."

Jessica, who plans to compete in her first Ironman next year, said rural Maketu provided some of the best biking and scenery for multisport training.

In the short-course event, Matthew Lochhead led home the men in 26m 44s, while Hannah Knighton was the first woman home in 29m 49s.

The kids race was won by Summer Tanner in a time of 11m 39s.