Multisports: NZ triathletes chase final Games spot

New Zealand's leading triathletes will be chasing Commonwealth Games games slots in the official selection race in Melbourne tomorrow.

The trial, which doubles as the test race on the course for the Commonwealth Games next March in St Kilda, is also the official selection for Australia. England, Wales and Scotland.

"We've suggested that the athletes treat this as a normal race. Focus on a top performance in the race and selection takes care of itself," Triathlon New Zealand high performances manager Stephen Farrell said.

"The danger is that you spend so much time looking over your shoulder that you don't focus on the race itself.

"It's easy to let the outcome dominate your thinking. That will be a danger. They all need to focus on the processes and let the outcomes take care of themselves."

New Zealand's Sam Warriner and Hamish Carter qualified with their performances at last month's world championships in Japan.

The first two New Zealanders home tomorrow, both male and female, will qualify as long as they finish in the top 20.

The men's race within the race will be an intriguing battle with 2004 world champion Bevan Docherty in danger of not even qualifying for the team.

He has been in solid form after a slow start to the season, highlighted with a third placing behind Carter and world No. 1 Hunter Kemper at the Chicago Triathon.

He was one to suffer in the conditions in Gamagori after illness in the week leading up, and failed to finish.

That will not help his confidence but despite that setback Docherty will be favoured to lead the New Zealanders home.

Christchurch-based Manawatu triathlete Kris Gemmell has struggled with ill health after some superb performances in the middle of the season including fourth in the Hungary World Cup and sixth at Hamburg.

Nathan Richmond from Auckland has not re-found the form that won him Athens Olympic selection. but has managed one-off performances before, while Shane Reed was highly experienced and keen to finally make a New Zealand team after narrowly missing out on the Manchester Commonwealth Games team in a desperate sprint finish against Gemmell in the selection race.

The 20-year-old double junior champion Terenzo Bozzone has learned much in his first year on the circuit and fears no-one.

In the women's battles, Auckland 23-year-old Debbie Tanner, who has been racing in Germany for the past two years, enjoyed a superb effort at the world championships, finishing just three spots behind Warriner.

Kapiti Coast's Evelyn Williamson, the Sydney and Manchester Games representative, was returning to that sort of form to place 23rd in Japan.

Tanner and Williamson will be the favoured pairing but face a tough test particularly from Hewitt, who impressed many sage onlookers with her victory in the under-23 division at the world championships in just her fourth triathlon.

The race, a test on the St Kilda course to be used for the commonwealth Games, is based at Catani Gardens with the women's race starting at 7am and men at 9.30am (local time).

- NZPA