Triathlon: Improved Hogan keeps focus

Sophie Hogan is in great form. Photo / Supplied

Sophie Hogan has her eyes firmly set on the future.

Her dream of making the New Zealand high performance squad drives her to swim, bike and run just that little bit faster.

Her drive is paying off. The 14-year-old won the Swim Gym triathlon at the season's first Shed 2 Triathlon Series yesterday.

She finished the short course (200m swim, 14km cycle, 2km run) in 38 minutes 42 seconds.

It's a good start to her second triathlon season. Hogan was named the most improved junior athlete at the end of last season. She then won all her events at the Friendly Dental Duathlon Series during the winter.

She plans to tackle four Sovereign Series events this season including the New Zealand Aquathon Championship, which she hopes will build to qualify for the high-performance squad once she turns 15.

The fastest man on the short course was Samuel Phillips, who finished in 36m 55s.

Eva Goodisson, fresh from her success at the Triathlon World Championships in Chicago, was the fastest woman around the Avanti Plus Triathlon course (750m swim 21 km cycle 4.5km run). The Woodford House student crossed the line in 1hr 3m 16s. In September she took the World Aquathon title in the 16-19 age group.

Karen Toulmin (Open) was still on form from her strong duathlon series, coming in at 1h 4m 45s.

Palmerston North junior David Martin made fast work of the course with a strong lead from the swim. He finished in 55 m 31s. His brother Adam Martin trailed him for second in 59m12s. The Broker Webb Risk Services Duathlon (4.5km run 21km cycle 2km run) winners were Klayton Betts (junior) in 1h 4m 57s and Katrina Marshall (open) 1h11m33s.

Triathlon HB general manager Mike Bond said it was great to see 130 participants enjoying the conditions with elite ones breaking the hour mark.