“Andrea had taken another five seconds off the lead when she handed over to me.
“Fortunately for me, it was a beach start and I caught Ryan Bailie (Reid’s training partner in Europe last year) in the wade out.”
Reid, the stronger swimmer of the two, said he tried to put some distance on his opponent “but I couldn’t shake him, I was giving it heaps but I could feel him touching my feet as he sat in my draft”.
“I was a bit worried when we came out of the water together as Ryan’s strong on the bike.
“I expected him to try to break me but it ended up being the other way round. I hit a corner hard, put 13 seconds on him and it ended up being a time trial after that.
Bailie took three seconds off the deficit in the run but the damage had been done on the cycle, much to Reid’s surprise.
“No one, including me, could believe I had ridden away from him. The result was a good confidence boost for us”.
Pleased with his performanceReid said no one likes to come fourth and miss out on the podium by one spot, but he was pleased with his performance in the Continental Cup individual race.
Reid clocked 53 minutes 45 seconds for the race won by fellow Kiwi Sam Ward in 52.50 from Australian Brandon Copeland (52.51) and New Zealander Tony Dodds (53.29).
“After the swim I put myself in a good position to medal but dropped my bike as I was putting it on the rack in transition, and that cost me valuable time, said Reid.
“I came into transition third but was eighth leaving, as the other guys smoked it through transition. I worked my way through the field on the run but couldn’t get higher than fourth.
“Dropping the bike was a good lesson to learn and one I hope won’t be repeated again.”
Reid gets the chance to put that theory into practice when he competes at world cup events in Mooloolaba, Australia on March 10, then New Plymouth at the end of March.
“I won’t be leaving anything in reserve in both these races,” said Reid. “I’ll be going out to smash them. The goals will be to win both races but the world cup series always attracts top athletes.”
First experience at elite levelGisborne Boys’ High School student Josiah Ney also raced in Adelaide in his first experience at elite level.
He finished 28th out of 48 in the Continental Cup race in a time of 57mins 41secs.
“I was a bit intimidated competing against the big boys, athletes of this calibre, and at the end of the race I was frustrated at the way I competed,” said the 19-year-old.
“I didn’t put any pressure on myself going into the Continental race. I was confident in my swimming ability but after a good start I dropped back and came out of the water 20 seconds behind Tayler.
“The last time we raced, I came out of the water with Tayler. The bike course was very technical and I got left behind, which was frustrating.
“It costs heaps of money to compete and then I had a poor run, when all I wanted to do was to make it to the eight water stations as opposed to competing.
“It was really hot but at the end of the day I had to accept it is all part of the process of becoming a top athlete.”
Ney also competed in a mixed team event in Adelaide.
“By the time I started going in for my swim, there were other athletes coming out of the water and on to the bikes. But I was reasonably happy with the way I went in this race.”
Ney is back in action on Sunday when he defends his national sprint distance age group title in Kinloch, near Taupo.
“I’m looking forward to it,” said Ney, who not only won his age group last year, but was first overall.
“It’s a chance to redeem myself from the weekend.”
