Ney bounces back for runner-up finish

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

GISBORNE Boys’ High School student Josiah Ney bounced back from a disappointing race in last week’s Continental Cup race in Adelaide, Australia, with second place in the New Zealand age-group triathlon championships in Kinloch yesterday.

With that runner-up spot, 19-year-old Ney qualified to compete in the Oceania age-group championships in Australia in September.

“After last week I was happy with my race yesterday,” said Ney, who won this race last year.

“It would have been good to win, but it was solid and just what I needed.”

He has two races coming up — the national secondary school champs in Nelson in five weeks and then, four days later, the New Zealand Junior Championships in New Plymouth.

He is trying to qualify for the junior division of the 2018 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final event in Australia’s Gold Coast from September 11 to 17.

“I’m a bit of a long shot for that but I’ll give it a go,” he said.

In Kinloch, Ney came out of the 750-metre swim 15 seconds behind eventual winner Dylan McCullough.

Ney was in a group but rain had made the 32-kilometre bike section “a bit sketchy”. With no drafting allowed, McCullough was able to get away.

On the five-kilometre run, Ney wanted to keep something in reserve for a sprint finish, but it never eventuated.

“With 500 metres to run, I dropped two of three guys,” he said.

“Then I dropped another to get second.”