Multisport: Triathletes try out Beijing course

Just a week after an exhausting world championship, New Zealand's leading triathletes put on some useful performances yesterday on the course for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Taupo's Bevan Docherty led the way in eighth place in the men's race, won by world No 1 Hunter Kemper.

Kapiti Coast's Evelyn Williamson was the best of the women, in 11th, in an event won by brilliant Portuguese prospect Vanessa Fernandes.

The leading New Zealanders, Docherty, Kris Gemmell (Christchurch), Terenzo Bozzone (North Harbour) and Shane Reed (New Plymouth), were in the main pack off the bike but were unable to produce the run set by Kemper.

Docherty was just over a minute back in eighth, Gemmell 12th, Bozzone 14th and Reed 31st.