Triathlon: Ashlee Greenhalgh stars on hard day

A gutsy effort from Huanui College's Ashlee Greenhalgh saw her come from behind to place third in the Under-14 division at the New Zealand Secondary Schools Triathlon on March 29.

Greenhalgh was part of the 20-strong Northland contingent who contested the triathlon at Lake Karapiro near Cambridge, featuring 700 competitors. The team was led by Evan Hamlet from Huanui College, and coached by last year's Ironman NZ champion Samantha Warriner.

The 13-year-old Greenhalgh was back in 18th spot when she finished the swim at the recent event, and then proceeded to dig deep on the bike.

She had closed in on the leaders, and made it into second place during the bike to run transition, and through sheer determination and mental toughness, she held on for third.

Another Huanui College student, Louis Poot, was fifth in the Year 8 boys, racing in only his third triathlon ever. It was Poot's first time racing outside of Whangarei. "This boy has talent and if I can persuade him to train with me over the winter we'll see big things from him in the years ahead," Warriner said.

Whangarei Boys High School's James Edwards, 15, had a tough ask, racing in the under-16 division, featuring a field of talented triathletes.

Edwards placed 29th in what was the most competitive field, after only eight weeks of training on a bike.

Overall, the team did exceptionally well after only starting training together in December, Warriner said. For many of the triathletes, it was their first time out of the area to race, so the team were using it as a learning experience.

"I was a proud coach because everyone dug deep and produced personal best results," she said.

She said times had changed as a lot of young athletes are training in triathlon as their number one sport.

"In the past you would get individual specialists racing who would tear up the swim, bike or run, and then hang on for dear life.

"But triathlon is becoming more of a sport in its own right - and the kids at national level are strong across all three disciplines now."

Warriner and the Northland team are looking forward to a good block of winter training and coming back stronger next year.