Docherty, Holland repeat at Takapuna sprint
Olympic silver and bronze medalist and ITU World Champion Bevan Docherty edged fellow Kiwi Kris Gemmell by one second to grab the Takapuna round of the New Zealand Triathlon Series Sunday.
In the women’s contest, Great Britain’s Vicky Holland edged New Zealand ITU star Andrea Hewitt by 4 seconds and ran down and topped early leader Nicky Samuels by 8 seconds on the sprint course.
Zooming in for a three-day visit from his USA training base, the 33-year-old ITU star overcame Gemmell’s early lead with a finish line sprint that brought him home in 43:57 and one second in front of his long time friend and frequent training partner.
"Now if you go to YouTube and you watch one of the most viewed Triathlon videos, you’ll come across one of the sprint finishes between Kris and myself down at the New Plymouth World Cup. In that video, Kris goes very early and starts to fade, then I pounce and scream past him with meters to go! I have always maintained that Kris has learned from that, and you could just tell in the final stages of Takapuna that he was going to wait until the very last moment to sprint for the win," said Docherty. "Sure enough, with only 100m to go the sprint came, I reacted, gritted my teeth and went for it as well. It was a great relief to surge in front of Kris and hold him off for the win."
Wanaka’s Nicky Samuels broke out to a minute lead with a solo bike surge, but Holland ran her down near the end to close with a 49:07 time on the 500 meter swim, 16 kilometer bike and 4 kilometer run.
Fellow Kiwi Andrea Hewitt, who has starred on the ITU circuit for the past three years, closed fast but fell 4 seconds short at the line to take second, followed 4 seconds later by Samuels, who had used up all her energy with her bike solo.
New Zealand National Triathlon Series
Takapuna, New Zealand
February 20, 2011
S 500M / B 16km / R 4km
Elite Men
1. Bevan Docherty (NZL) 43:57
2. Kris Gemmell (NZL) 43:58
3. Ryan Sissons (NZL) 44:40
4. Martin Van Barneveld 45:15
5. Sam Osborne (NZL) 45:24
Elite women
1. Vicky Holland (GBR) 49:07
2. Andrea Hewitt (NZL) 49:11
3. Nicky Samuels (NZL) 49:15
4. Rebecca Kingsford (NZL) 50:17
5. Maddie Dillon (NZL) 50:34
