New Zealand Deer Velvet Behind World Win
While the rest of New Zealand slept, one lone Kiwi tri-athlete managed to score a world victory in Hawaii earlier this
month, with little fanfare at home and a similarly low-key return to New Zealand late last week, but a firm conviction
that New Zealand Deer Velvet had helped him prepare for the event.
Jonny Collett, 23, from Blenheim took the gold medal in the Aquathlon World Championships on 4 October – featuring a 2.5
km run, followed by a 750m swim and a final 2.5km - then placed a close fifth in the age-group World Triathlon
Championship for 20-24 year olds just five days later. In that race he swam 1500m, cycled for 40km and ran for 10km run
on a blisteringly hot Hawaiian day, before collapsing at the finish in 1hr 59 minutes and 33 seconds, just four minutes
behind the winner Diogo Martins of Brazil.
He says taking the podium to receive his World Championship medal was a humbling experience, and he was a “bit of a
stunned mullet” but receiving the haka from his team-mates with the New Zealand flag draped over his shoulders was
something he will “never, ever forget”.
The build up training in Christchurch where he is now based was gruelling, reaching 30 hours a week at the peak. Jonny
swears by the New Zealand deer velvet capsules he had been taking that, he says, helped maintain his immune system
during that time and meant he had no time off for sickness during the period. “It’s something everyone should take, like
a multi-vitamin,” he says. “I took the capsules and combined them with a well-planned nutrition plan to help me go the
extra mile.”
Jonny won’t be able to rest now, he has a summer of hard training ahead of him before going off to Melbourne next year
to help other athletes compete in the Commonwealth Games, then later will go on to the US to compete on the professional
circuit.
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