Youngsters on track for race

THIS WAY: Race marshal Adam Holmes shows Estelle Murray where to go with her bike at the Kids Triathlon yesterday morning.PHOTOS/BEVAN CONLEY 220315WCBRCKID02

GREAT mates can also make great competition as the second annual Wanganui Kids Triathlon showed at Springvale Park and the Splash Centre yesterday morning.

Organised by the Whanganui Multisport Club and Sport Whanganui, the turnout of 45-50 competitors across three age grades was quite down on the 85 who took part in 2014.

However, the excitement was still keen for good racing conditions - overcast but not wet - as the children dived into the Splash Centre pool for one to three 25m laps, before jogging back to the fields to transition on to their bikes and ride around the 1km course boundary beside Carlton Ave and Parsons St.

From there, it was back on foot for the jog around the other end of the park between GF Moore Drive and Parsons St.

A number of active parents ran alongside their youngsters to make sure they went the right way.

While the results still had to be tabulated via finishing times as the children all started their swimming leg at delayed intervals, St Johns Hill School's Hunter Gibson chased fellow 10-year-old school mate Maggie Jones out to the bike stand and would overtake her on the Springvale fields during the 12 years and under race.

First boy and girl across the line, both Hunter and Jones are young multisport club members, having raced each other in the midweek Aquathon series, their school triathlon and the Manawatu Interschool event.

Jones' younger sister and brother also competed on the day.

She said she enjoyed last year a little more as the swimming leg was held last, before being moved to the traditional starting discipline for triathlon.

Gibson said running is his strong suit, and it was "really good" to enter the triathlon for the first time. First racer home in the 9-and-under grade, Churton School's Arlo Johnston, 9, could barely raise his voice, having to dig in hard on the final running lap after slowing down to a walk with the tell-tale hand on the stomach.

Johnston said he will probably do the race again next year, finding the bike leg the best as he rides regularly.

Waiting at the finish line with certificates for the children, some of whom did not even have enough energy left to look up at her, was Wanganui's own multisport star Gina Crawford.

Fresh off her runner-up placing in the elite women's race at the Kellogg's Nutri-Grain Ironman NZ, Crawford was understanding.

"I know how they feel at the finish line, that's for sure."

Resuming her training at the weekend, Crawford is off to Western Australia for a half ironman event, which will serve as warm-up for the Cairns Ironman, and then her big trip in July to compete in Germany.

Often called upon to give out finishing prizes at children's multisport race that are attached to the big events she competes in, Crawford said it was great to be able to do the same in her own home.

Full results from the Kids Triathlon are available on the Sport Whanganui website today.