Gold for St Paul’s triathlete

Oliver Larcombe competed in the under 19 division, in Wanaka on Sunday 16 February, at the New Zealand Schools National Triathlon Championships. His race consisting of a 600m swim, 15km bike and 4km run.

At the completion of his swim, he was in the leading group of 4; during the bike he was in a lead group of three but followed by some of the race favourites in a second group. Soon the leading pack consisted of just Oliver and one other, and the two were able to extend their lead over the chasing competitors. At the start of the run, Oliver pulled away from his closest rival and extended his lead to one minute over the next group of competitors.

Oliver maintained his lead and finished with a gold, well clear of second and third placegetters. Four St Paul’s students completed in the under 16 age group race, where they completed a 300 metre swim, 10km bike and 3km run. Toby Finlayson, Isaac Reay and Ben Haskell represented St Paul’s in the boy’s category, while Nikita Coleman entered the girl’s race. All students performed strongly. Toby finished 11th, Ben 20th while Isaac and Nikita both finished 22nd in the respective races.

Later in the day, Nikita, Toby, Oliver and a student from Dio joined for the under 19 mixed team relay. Each competitor completed a 200 metre swim, 5km bike and 1km run and tagged the next team-mate. Although tired from their efforts in their individual races, the students expended all their efforts and were rewarded by placing second earning them a silver medal in this event.

Medals:

U19 Boys Individual Gold Medal: Oliver Larcombe 

U19 Mixed Tag Team Relay Silver Medal: Oliver Larcombe, Toby Finlayson, Nikita Coleman