Tauranga triathletes show early season form at Adelaide champs

Olivia Cummings finished seventh and Hayden Wilde 10th in their elite races last weekend. Photo / George Novak

With every major event that Olivia Cummings and Hayden Wilde contest, their performance levels continue to improve.

At the 2018 Glenelg OTU Sprint Triathlon Oceania Cup held in Adelaide, up against the cream of Australian and New Zealand triathlon talent, they both made early season indications this could be a memorable year.

Fifteen-year-old Cummings finished seventh out of 31 in the elite youth female division while Wilde, 20, finished 10th from 34 in the elite men's division behind the Australian and New Zealand Commonwealth Games competitors.

"I was really happy with it. I had a really strong swim and then felt really strong riding with Ryan Sissons before I didn't feel too good on the run as my stomach was not too happy. I was top five at one point then slipped down to 10th and slowly jogged it in," Wilde said.

"I have raced against the [New Zealand] guys before and beaten them. I was not going out there to have a massive win or anything. Just there to see where I am at the start of the season and get a good base to work on."

For Otumoetai College Year 11 student Cummings, it was a change to be competing in a much smaller field of elite athletes in her age group.

"I am really pleased because it was a bit of a different swim as it was a lot lighter field than I am used to. I had a very strong bike and run to finish," she said.

"It was a really good experience to race ahead of Kinloch to try and qualify for the worlds in September on the Gold Coast and then the nationals later this season."

The athletes also competed in the Oceania mixed team relay triathlon. The team of four took on a mini-tri of a 250m swim, 6km bike and 1.6km run with team members finishing the three legs before tagging a teammate.

Wilde was particularly pleased with how his NZ B team went, finishing just behind the New Zealand Commonwealth Games team of Tayler Reid, Nicole van der Kaay, Ryan Sissons and Andrea Hewitt who won the elite race.

Wilde and Cummings are based in Tauranga and coached by Craig Kirkwood.

"Hayden is doing really well. He has a pretty big year and a long one so it was good to get the first race under the belt and get a pretty good result," Kirkwood said.

"It should set him up for the next few world cup races in Mooloolaba and New Plymouth that are coming up in the next four weeks. There are a few things we need to work on but really happy with the way he raced even though he was a little bit sick on the Sunday."

Kirkwood is grateful to the support of the Tauranga Triathlon Club for financially supporting Cummings, Wilde and Hannah Knighton, who won the Junior Women category, to race in Adelaide.

"The tri club were really supportive of the athletes who went over and we are hugely grateful for that support. It costs a lot of money to be involved in triathlon with the travel and the equipment and stuff so any assistance from the club is awesome."