Triathlon World Cup - athletes from 15 countries race their way to Ahuriri, Napier

The field on the way at the World Cup triathlon in Napier last year. The event returns to Hawke's Bay this week. Photo / NZME.

• Competitors from 15 countries are in Hawke’s Bay for the New Zealand leg of the triathlon World Cup in Ahuriri.
• Olympian Ainsley Thorpe and Nicole Van Der Kaay are among the expected starters.
• A 750m swim, 20km bike ride, and 5km run, events start Sunday at 8am.

Competitors from at least 15 countries have started arriving in Hawke’s Bay for the elite men’s and women’s sprint-distance triathlon World Cup which will be raced in and around Ahuriri on Sunday.

Being held in Napier for a second year in a row, the cup is part of the second Napier Triathlon Festival, which opened on Tuesday with the start of a Tri NZ talent ID and skill-building camp at Mitre 10 Park in Hastings, and which culminates in a mini-tri on Friday.

But the ultimate target will be the cup races of a 750m swim, 20km bike ride and a 5km run, with Olympian Ainsley Thorpe and Nicole Van Der Kaay among the expected starters, along with 2018 Commonwealth Games medallist Tayler Reid.

Olympic Games full-course silver medallist Hayden Wilde, who raced in Napier last year, is not expected to return, having at the weekend won a World Championship series event in Abu Dhabi.

The Tri NZ Suzuki Series Sprint Championships will take place on the same course as the big event, on the same course as the elites, and the debut of the Napier Tri-er, a fun event for beginners with options to “skip the swim” and “cheat the bike” if competitors are keen to have a celebrity athlete swim for them, or an electric bike do some of the work for them in a shortened 300m, 10km, 2.5km format.

Race director Shanelle Barrett expects an influx of visitors in Napier, and says: “One of the thrills of triathlon is the chance for all athletes to compete on the same course and to finish on the same blue carpet in front of family and friends.”

Tri NZ development lead Chris Willett is hosting 25 New Zealand teenage athletes and six from Samoa at the camp, which includes a closed-roads Super Sprint (200m swim, 5km bike, approx 1km run) at the regional sports park.

Events will start on Sunday at 8am and are expected to be finished by 2.30pm.

Doug Laing is a senior reporter based in Napier with Hawke’s Bay Today, and has 52 years of journalism experience, 42 of them in Hawke’s Bay, in news gathering, including breaking news, sports, local events, issues, and personalities.