Duathlon: Hamilton leads by example in Belgium

North Harbour's Anna Hamilton led a strong showing by New Zealand athletes at the world duathlon championships in Belgium today.

The Rangitoto College student, 18, won a bronze medal when finishing just 30m behind the winner, Hungary's Renata Koch, in Geel.

Shane Reed was fifth in the elite men's race, Bianca Simpson 10th in the elite women and Dunedin's Victoria Beck finished fourth in the elite under-23 women's race to headline a powerful overall showing by New Zealanders.

Hamilton, the national secondary schools triathlon and duathlon champion, was seventh after the first 5km run but pushed up to the leading bunch with the second fastest 20km ride of 40 minutes 13 seconds.

Koch, Nicole Hofer, of Switzerland, and Hamilton worked their way to a break at the front of the field before Hamilton was pipped in the final sprint on the second run over 3km.

Beck was sixth after the initial 10km run, and came off the 40km bike in the second pack who trailed the leading group of four by about 30sec.

Beck set the fourth fastest time for the second run over 5km to climb up to fourth overall. She passed the leading off the bike with a strong 20min 17sec split for the final 5km run to close to within 20sec of the bronze medal.

The United States-based Simpson was 1min down on the leaders in 13th place after the first 10km run but forged her way up to the leading pack of 10.

She couldn't match the speed of the leaders on the final 5km run, finishing 10th in a race won by Hungary's Erika Csomor.

Reed completed an outstanding double to finish fifth in the elite men's race, after placing seventh at the triathlon world championships three weeks ago.

The Queensland-based athlete was conservatively placed 1min 20sec behind the leaders after the first 10km run.

He drove the chase to catch the leaders as light rain gave way to heavier falls.

Reed joined the front group of six who clearout out on the run, although he could not match the sprint of Belgian Benny Vansteelant, who successfully defended his title.

Provisional results:

Elite junior (5km run 20km bike 3km run)

Women: Renata Koch (Hungary) 1hr 09 min 51sec 1, Nicole Hofer (Switzerland) 1:09.53 2, ANNA HAMILTON (NZ) 1:09.57 3.

Men: BRUCE HUNTER (NZ) 1:02.30 17.

Elite under-23 (10km run 40km bike 5km run)

Women: Miek Vyncke (Belgium) 2:04.13 1, Barbara Zutt (Netherlands) 2:04.45 2, Michelle Fangmann (Netherlands) 2:05.17 3, VICTORIA BECK (NZ) 2:05.38 4.

Men: CLIVE COOPER (NZ) 1:58.55 27.

Elite (10km run 40km bike 5km run)

Women: Erika Csomor (Hungary) 2:00.40 1, Annie Emmerson (Great Britain) 2:00.49 2, Laura Giordana (Italy) 2:00.53 3. BIANCA SIMPSON (NZ) 2:03.02 10.

Men: Benny Vansteelant (Belgium) 1:44.25 1, Lino Barruncho (Portugal) 1:44.38 2, Nicolas Lubrun (France) 1:44.42 3. New Zealanders: Shane Reed 1:44.47 5, Mark Bailey 1:45.26 17, Richard Wagener 1:55.32 60, Dave Brown 1:56.06 62.

- NZPA