Andrea Hewitt (Christchurch) battled bravely in cold conditions in London today to finish 8th in the ITU World Triathlon Series Grand Final, finishing 5th on the year end world rankings, just 106 points off the podium.
The race and the overall world title was won by Non Stanford (GBR), with Aileen Reid (IRL) taking silver ahead of Emma Moffatt (AUS) with Jodie Stimpson (GBR) doing enough in 4th place to earn second place on the year end rankings ahead of Anne Haug (GER) and Gwen Jorgensen (USA).
The day dawned cold and damp for the athletes with skull caps and wetsuits the order of the day for the Swim in the Serpentine. Hewitt, Kate McIlroy (Wellington) and Nicky Samuels (Wanaka) all emerged from the water in or near the lead group and were soon riding in amongst a lead group of 25 athletes on the 40km bike leg.
Points leader coming into the Grand Final Jorgensen (USA) took a tumble in the slippery conditions though and damaged her bike and was soon a withdrawal, opening the door for Stanford to take the overall title on the back of a dominant win in London today, the young Brit backing up from her U23 title last year despite having to serve a 15 second penalty after a transition infringement.
Hewitt ran strongly through the first 5km of the run but faded in the second half of the 3 lap run in Hyde Park, doing enough to hold on for 8th and another strong finish in the year end rankings after her third place ranking in 2012.
Samuels made up ground over the closing kilometres, finishing 14th to also earn that same spot in the season end world rankings. Kate McIlroy never got going on the run in the cold conditions and came home in 36th place, ending her season 15th on the world rankings.
