Gisborne’s Reid makes podium in first 70.3 triathlon

Gisborne's Tayler Reid after the World Triathlon Cup race in Napier recently. Reid was back in action at the weekend at the Ironman 70.3 Geelong in which he placed third. Photo / @worldtriathlon/@cammackenziephotos

Gisborne triathlete Tayler Reid finished third in his first Ironman 70.3 triathlon, held in Geelong, Australia, on Sunday.

Reid finished in 3 hours 34 minutes 39 seconds – 75s behind the winner, Jelle Geens, of Belgium, 30s behind runner-up Jake Birtwhistle, of Australia, and 10s clear of fourth placegetter Cameron Main, of Great Britain.

Coming out of the 1.9km swim, Reid’s time of 21m 36s was only a second slower than that of Australian Aaron Royle, who was first out.

Reid’s transition time of 2m 16s was four seconds slower than the fastest, and his 90km bike leg of 2h 2s was 31s slower than the fastest (that of New Zealand’s Ben Hamilton, whose cycle ride was 22s faster than the next best, but who finished 10th).

Only eventual fifth placegetter Kenji Nener, of Japan, had a faster transition to the run – 1m 25s to Reid’s 1m 31s – and in the early stages of the 21.1km run the top 10 were within touching distance of each other.

After 3.5km Geens, Birtwhistle, Nener, and Reid were all covered by less than a second.

From there, Geens lifted the pace, opening a lead over Nener and Reid, who ran shoulder to shoulder for much of the run leg. Birtwhistle stayed close throughout the middle stages of the run before making his move, working his way up to second.

Reid’s run time of 1h 9m 14s was third fastest, 76s slower than that of Geens and 27s slower than Birtwhistle’s.

A newcomer to the half-ironman distance, Reid, 28, plans to make the longer races part of his campaign to make the New Zealand triathlon team for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, which he anticipates will be his last tilt at Olympic selection before he transitions fully to the longer-course races.