Congratulations to NZ U14 Schools Triathlon Champion - Neve McKenzie! Neve, Year 9, also won the Under 14 junior girls race in the SISS Triathlon and Duathlon Championships earlier this month, rounding an outstanding month. We are incredibly proud of Neve and her achievements! Here she shares her journey so far ...

I started getting into triathlon when I was 6 or 7 years old when my Dad raced with me in one of the Mark Grammer’s Transition Coaching Triathlons at Anakiwa. At that stage I was only doing the run and my Dad would swim and bike or sometimes I would do the same with my Mum. I have always loved running, it seems to be one of my strengths so being asked to run in a team for someone was always fun. I kept doing team events with my family members until I was about 10. I went to my first Tri camp at 9 which was at Mistletoe Bay and was with a group of kids that did triathlon training together. We mountain biked the Queen Charlotte track from Anakiwa into Mistletoe Bay and practised our sea swimming in the bay. We ran the peninsula tracks as well as many other fun triathlon type activities. The following year we went over to Nelson and did the same thing.

By this stage I was really enjoying it and I was able to participate by myself at Secondary school level so in Year 7 I started competing in triathlon events such as SISS (South Island Secondary Schools) and NZSS Triathlon championship events.

I recently raced down in Oamaru at the SISS Triathlon Champs in the Under 14s division and ended up winning! It was a beautiful day with perfect racing conditions, the sea was calm and nice and warm. My swim didn't quite go to plan…. as soon as we sprinted into the water I went to dive down under a wave and my goggles flew off! I stood up quickly to take a quick glance through the water but the splashes from other athletes made it impossible to find them so I dived back down and started my swim with no googles. I managed to still come out in the top 3 bunch and as we ran up the beach and I started to unzip my wetsuit I felt my missing goggles hanging around my neck!! Damn I had them with me the whole time! Next time my googles need to be tighter and sitting under my cap.

I stripped my wetsuit off in transition, placed my helmet on my head and took off with another girl from the age group above me on my tail. We worked together on the bike lapping with each other and trying to catch as many people as we could. We worked really hard together for the 3 laps till it was time to dismount our bikes and take off for the run.

Finally the Run! I ran above the foreshore on the pathway to the turn around cone, I kept the same pace till a little sprint at the finish!

I lay on the ground trying to get my breath back with the mask we had to put on as soon as we finished.

I train around 5 to 6 days a week. I swim twice a week before school on a Tuesday and Thursday morning and I run and bike around 3 times a week. Some sessions are different from others. Sometimes it’s just a straight ride and others I do a brick session which is running off the bike. I love these sessions, they are super hard but so satisfying.

For my triathlons I normally only have to run around 3k so I just practice short sharp and quick runs, over the summer I also compete in athletics and specialise in the 1500m which really helps with my running in triathlon.

As they say….. SWIM to go, BIKE for Show and RUN for the dough!

Some of my goals in life are to be a Professional Triathlete however I would love to go to the Olympics to compete in either Triathlon or the 1500m in Athletics. I would love to get a scholarship for Triathlon or Athletics and go to an American University (Aloha Hawaii!) and race all around Europe. I love this sport because it's a mixture of all 3 of my favourite sporting codes AND you get to travel to heaps of cool places and meet new people and race against them!