Australia dominated the Junior races at the Sovereign Oceania Triathlon Championships in Gisborne this morning, with the green and gold race suits taking out five of the six podium spots across the two races.
The Junior Women saw an Aussie clean sweep with Jessica Claxton winning from Ellie Hoitink and Zoe Leahy, in the process leaving some of the pre-race favourites in their wake.
In the Junior Men Matthew Hauser (AUS) brought home gold with Dan Hoy (NZL) winning silver ahead of Liam McCoach (AUS) crossing for the bronze medal.
On a calm and overcast morning, the Juniors set off in the East Coast ocean swim from the race headquarters at Churchill Park, with the surf relatively flat and not causing too many problems for either the men or the women.
In the men’s race it was Nathan Green (AUS) who broke clear thanks to riding a rare wave into the beach but his lead was short-lived as two evenly sized groups formed on the bike, with about 20 seconds between them for much of the early going. On a relatively flat and open course though with no chance to ‘hide’ from the chasing pack, the two groups came together for a busy transition to the run and from that point it was Hauser and Hoy who took control before the Aussie made a break at the midway point to claim gold.
 Matthew Hauser(Photo: Scott Taylor; click to enlarge) |
Hauser reflected on a tough race against a familiar opponent in Hoy.
“That was a tough one, my last race of the season so I just wanted to have a good crack today, Dan pushed me through that run but I managed to attack him and get a good gap before the finish. I will be building up towards the worlds now, I will go home and spend a bit of time with my family and then back to the Gold Coast and back into training.”
Hoy has only recently started racing after an interrupted summer in New Zealand, so was pleased with his performance today.
“I am pleased with that, 48 hours ago I was spewing my guts up, I think I caught a bug from my brother but I managed to recover nicely in time for the race and had a really good swim. I knew the bunches would come together without that ‘out of sight out of mind’ kind of thing. I then had a poor transition and had to run hard to catch up to Matt in the first kilometre and then he just had another gear to go again near the end.
“This is just my second race of the season, I have had a rough summer leading into the New Zealand racing season so hopefully I am alright from here. I just need to get a good training block under my belt now.”
 Dan Hoy(Photo: Scott Taylor; click to enlarge) |
In the women’s event there were two distinct groups of nine out of the water and that is the way they stayed throughout the bike, with the chasers not able to make any impression despite having two of the pre-race favourites in Brittany Dutton and Sophie Malowiecki in their ranks.
That essentially decided where the medals were going to go, with Claxton the strongest on the run to upset her more fancied team mates. Jaimee Leader, Hannah Knighton and Ainsley Thorpe rode strongly in the lead group with Thorpe the first of the Kiwis over the line in 8th place on the back of the fifth fastest run split.
 The junior womens podium(Photo: Scott Taylor; click to enlarge) |
Results: Sovereign Oceania Triathlon Championships, Gisborne
Junior Men
1. Matthew Hauser (AUS) 55:58
2. Dan Hoy (NZL) 56:18
3. Liam McCoach (AUS) 56:2
4. Callum McClusky (AUS) 56:41
5. Liam Ward (NZL) 56:48
Junior Women
1. Jessica Claxton (AUS) 1:04:22
2. Ellie Hoitink (AUS) 1:04:38
3. Zoe Leahy (AUS) 1:04:44
4. Elle Leahy (AUS) 1:04:47
5. Sophie Malowiecki (AUS) 1:04:47
