Multisport athletes pass Sardinia test

WINNING FEELING: Aiden Dunstan (left) and Sam Durrant both won races at the Generator multisport event. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Two Tauranga athletes will be winging their way to Sardinia, Italy, in September to represent New Zealand in multisport events.

Sam Durrant, 20, and Aiden Dunstan, 22, qualified after winning their races at the Generator, a new multisport event held in and around Arapuni, South Waikato. It centres on the Waikato River Trails in the heart of South Waikato, an impressive setting for this exciting multisport event.

Durrant has not been competing in multisport for a couple of years due to joining the NZ Air Force as a firefighter and having to complete his training.

The weather at Arapuni was atrocious, with non-stop rain making the race a real test of endurance. It started with a 6km kayak, where Durrant came fifth. He made it back to first place after the 28km road bike ride. From there was a 5km off-road run, followed by a 12km mountain-bike leg and then a final 4.5km run. Durrant held his position from the first bike leg and led the field, finishing five minutes ahead of his nearest rival, Craig Kirkwood, also from Tauranga.

"It was awesome to get a good result like that to back up my selection coming up for the world champs," Durrant said. "I was so stoked to get picked and will train hard over the winter. I think I am a little more suited to the endurance side of the sport and over the winter will get more into the multisport and off-road tri. I see myself heading more that way.

"We will get some really good competition coming from the Europeans [in Sardinia]. It will be quite warm over there and I will be coming from winter so hopefully we can go over there a little earlier and acclimatise to the heat. Being able to deal with the heat will be a bit of a tricky one but all the other training though should be fine."

Durrant previously had won the secondary school multisport champs in his last year as head boy at Mount Maunganui College before heading off to Europe to compete in some triathlon events. He is the current 20-24 age group national duathlon champion.

Papamoa's Dunstan won the standard triathlon version of the Generator event. He has also been selected for the NZ team to compete in Sardinia. Another Western Bay athlete, Lindy Wickham, came third in the women's full multisport race.