Saturday’s Loan Market Oceanside Tauranga Half produced two outstanding elite races, with Jack Moody and Hannah Berry defending their men’s and women’s titles in emphatic fashion.
The 36th running of the race drew outstanding elite fields, who competed in sunny conditions at Mount Maunganui.
The event also doubled as the New Zealand Middle Distance Triathlon Championships, giving the wins by Moody and Berry special significance.
The elite women’s race produced an emphatic victory for local multisport legend Berry.
She dominated the women’s field to take her fourth title in the iconic event, following wins in 2019, 2020 and 2023.
Berry virtually led from start to finish after being the second woman out of the water, five seconds behind accomplished UK triathlete Fenella Langridge.
Berry then produced strong bike and run legs to win the race by almost eight minutes from much-improved New Zealand triathlete Samantha Kingsford.
Berry was very appreciative of the support that she received throughout Saturday’s race.
“I love this event and this community. There were so many people along the course that I know, who were yelling my name. I really enjoyed the support and the event,” Berry said.
The cry of “Go Hannah” was a prominent one on Mount Maunganui’s café-lined streets. The strong crowds witnessed Berry in sublime form to start a big year in the sport for her in 2025.
In second place, Kingsford produced the best half marathon in the women’s field. She ran 1h 25m 01s for the 21.1km run to overtake both Hannah Knighton and Langridge. It was the first podium in a 70.3 event for Kingsford, with local Knighton finishing third and Langridge fourth.
Jack Moody defends his title in the 2025 Loan Market Oceanside Tauranga Half with a race record. Photo / Hamish Collie
The elite men’s race was a repeat of last year’s quinella, with Auckland’s Moody again beating top Christchurch triathlete Mike Phillips. However, there was a difference in this year’s race approach from Moody, who footed it with Phillips on the swim and bike, as opposed to running him down on the final leg.
Moody was third out of the water, only 11 seconds adrift of Lachlan Haycock. Phillips was one place further back after the Pilot Bay swim, allowing the two rivals to start the bike leg together. While the lead changed from time to time, Moody basically went wheel-to-wheel with Phillips throughout the 90km bike leg.
Moody still had plenty of running in him after the quick bike leg, completing the half marathon in an impressive 1h 10m 32s to win Saturday’s event in race-record time, eclipsing the previous mark set by Braden Currie in 2023.
Moody was jubilant after the victory.
“It’s been a pretty special day. This is my eighth consecutive year at this event. It took me seven attempts to finally win it, so to defend the title this year is special. The Loan Market Oceanside Tauranga Half is one of the iconic events on the NZ triathlon calendar which means so much to win, so I certainly appreciate this second title.”
Bettering the race record by 14 seconds was the icing on the cake for Moody.
“My coach mentioned out on the course that we might be on for a race record, so we basically said – ‘let’s go for it’.”
Moody’s improvement over the past year in the swim and bike disciplines was highly evident. Phillips, one of the top cyclists in the sport, paid tribute to the improved biking skills of Moody.
“The time that we both did on the bike today was as fast as anyone has gone on this course,” Phillips said.
Phillips was pleased to be competitive throughout the day’s event and complimentary of the performance of Moody, saying “he was simply too strong today”.
The Loan Market Oceanside Tauranga Half was the headline event for the Fulton Hogan Mount Festival of Multisport, which also featured anAquabikeevent and the Waitoa Half Marathon, which was held over 5km, 10km and 21.1km distances. Korban Bastiaanse won the Waitoa men’s Half Marathon in 1h 14m 16s, while Jasmine Finney won the women’s half marathon in 1h 23m 28s.
Loan Market Oceanside Tauranga Half Results – January 18, 2025
