Carter Grabs Silver At Triathlon World Champs

4 September 2006

Carter Grabs Silver At Triathlon World Champs

New Zealand triathlete Hamish Carter, who lives in Mt Eden, has claimed the silver medal in the elite men's event at the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland this morning. Kris Gemmell came in fourth in the same race.

Triathlon New Zealand Chief Executive Officer, Dave Beeche, said Carter finished with a time of 1:51:49, just 17 seconds behind the winner Tim Don of Great Britain.

"Carter had a great swim leg and both he and Kris Gemmell were in the lead group of nine riders in the cycle leg," Dave said.

"The group entered the final lap of the cycle more than one minute ahead of the chase group.

"Carter and Tim Don then ran together for about the first five kilometres of the run leg before Don began to pull away."

New Zealander Bevan Docherty retired from the race in the cycle leg, after an infection in his thigh began to play up. Fellow Kiwi competitor Clark Ellice finished in 16 th place.

Dave said the New Zealand elite women also achieved some great results with four women finishing in the top 25, and young triathlete Andrea Hewitt coming in tenth.

"Tenth place was an excellent result for Hewitt, who was competing in the elite race for the first time. Debbie Tanner recovered from a fall in the cycle to finish in 23rd after a strong run."

35 year-old Evelyn Williamson also performed well, finishing in 18th place. Samantha Warriner finished at 17.

"Our women are becoming increasing competitive in the World Cup circuit. Up-and-coming triathlete Nicky Samuels came in third in the Under 23 World Championships and is likely to be a key competitor on the elite circuit in the future," Dave said.

He said the more than 100-strong Kiwi contingent that competed across 12 different age group categories in the World Age Group races this weekend further demonstrated the strength of New Zealand's triathletes.

"The final medals tally was three golds, two silvers and a bronze – a great result for the New Zealand contingent."

"In the men's events, Tony Dodds came in 1st in the 18-19 age group with a finish time of 2:11:12."

"There was a strong result in the men's 20-24 age group event which could signal the emergence of possible new talent for future elite level racing," Dave said.

Sam Mallard picked up a silver with a time of 2:07:17 and Tom Moyes collected a bronze with his finish of 2: 08.59. New Zealand competitors Lee Greer and Ben Visser also came in fourth and sixth place respectively.

John Hellemans of Canterbury came in 1st in the 50-54 years category taking out his eighth World Championship title. He finished with a time of 2:17:27 after regaining lost ground during the run phase of the event.

In the women's events, Fiona Mackay came in 2nd in the 30-34 age group with a time of 2:25:34. In the 70-74 age group Judith Barfoot picked up gold for her effort completing the event with a time of 3:37:34.

This year's team was the largest New Zealand age group team since the world championships which were held in Queenstown in 2003.

Further information on Lausanne is available at www.triathlon.org

ENDS

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