Multisport: NZ triathletes suffer in the heat

10.20am

New Zealand triathletes found the extreme heat of Cancun difficult to overcome in this morning's penultimate round of the International Trithlon Union World Cup.

The trio of Kris Gemmell, Shane Reed and under-23 competitor Graham O'Grady finished out of the major placings in the Mexican island resort, with the race run in 35deg C and high humidity.

Christchurch-based Gemmell was the best of the New Zealanders in 13th place and he remains in the race for the season-ending World Cup prizemoney.

He was ranked fourth going in to today's race and will need a big performance in the final round in Brazil to claim some of the US$50,000 ($73,964) prizemoney.

Gemmell and Reed had strong swims and were part of a 25-strong group at the head of the race on the eight-lap 40km bike, in hot and windy conditions.

Frenchman Cedric Fleureton was part of a three-strong group that gained a 50-second advantage off the bike, and pushed strongly on the first half of the four-lap 10km run to cement his first World Cup victory.

American Hunter Kemper and former world duathlon champion Tim Don of Great Britain ran through from the chase pack, with the New Zealanders struggling on the run to be content with the minor placings.

Gemmell's time of one hour 56 minutes 22 seconds was more than 4min behind Fleurteon. Reed was a further two minutes back in 18th place while Hamilton-based O'Grady failed to finish.

The final round of the ITU World Cup will be raced in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Monday morning next week (NZ time).

Leading results:

Men: Cedric Fleureton (France) 1hr 54min 01sec 1, Hunter Kemper (USA) 1:54.14 2, Tim Don (GBR) 1:54.30 3.

Also: KRIS GEMMELL 1:56.22 13, SHANE REED 1:58.30 18, GRAHAM O'Grady dnf.

Women: Anja Dittmer (Germany) 2:05.51 1, Joanna Zeiger (USA) 2:06.07 2, Sandra Soldan (Brazil) 2:06.24 3.

- NZPA