Wright holds out in battle of young guns

James Wright arrives back at the Kaierau Rugby Club to come first overall in the long course race of the AFFCO Triathlon on Saturday. Photo/Bevan Conley

For leading Wanganui triathlete James Wright, no amount of training runs could be better than winning a local race with a strong rival nipping at your heels.

The 17-year-old Wanganui High School student and member of the TRINZ national development squad won the 2014 edition of the AFFCO Triathlon on Saturday afternoon after diving into Lake Wiritoa and running across the finishing tape just over an hour later outside the clubrooms of the Kaierau Rugby Football Club.

His journey had taken him on a 700m swim across the lake, then jogging up to the Wanganui Waterski Club's building to transition on to his bike for a 20km ride into town, arriving at the Kaierau clubrooms via Castlecliff.

From there it was back out in the running shoes for a 5km jog, in warm and slightly breezy conditions, before looping back to the rugby field sideline finish.

Wright was chased hard throughout by Collegiate Year 11 student Luke Gemmell, who finished only 25 seconds behind him after an aggressive challenge on the final leg.

After the 2.30pm start at the lake, Wright emerged on his bike at Kaierau at 3.14pm with a reasonable lead over a chasing group of three, including Gemmell.

However, the two teenagers cut lone figures by the time they raced each other back up Devon Rd to the finish.

While Wright's time was only one minute and 45 seconds over the hour mark, the young man said his goal had been to win rather than break the 60-minute barrier, as Palmerston North's Jake Jackson-Grammer managed the year before.

"The heat wasn't too bad, I just had a really hard training week this week, my legs were dead for that bike and run.

"Luke was catching up, I had to dig deep to stay away from him."

Wright is preparing for the Under 19 Elite Nationals on March 7 and as he sat recovering on the rugby field sideline, the young man said the event pushed him harder than any training session could.

Gemmell, who is also preparing for the nationals in Gisborne, likewise got a lot out of the rivalry.

"I've never ever beaten James, I just wanted to see if I could catch him."

The teenager felt his swim had been strong, but was more pleased to have put in a good run to get close to Wright, who had won the U19 elite division at the January round of the Kiwi Tri Series in Takapuna.

Luke Gemmell wasn't the only family member to shine on Saturday as Rob Gemmell finished in a strong 1h 04m 32s time to be comfortable winner of the men's vintage section.

The first competitor back to the rugby clubrooms was short-course winner Rob Condor, who completed the smaller version of the long course in 53m 01s.

With major sporting events and music concerts at both ends of the North Island on Saturday, overall entry numbers for the triathlon were not high, with 49 individual competitors and nine teams combined across both the short and long-course events.

The event is held in conjunction with the Wanganui Multisport & Triathlon Club.

The club's next event will be the triathlon/multisport races on March 16 along the Whanganui River course.