KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's Andrea Hewitt underlined her growing status by finishing second at a World Cup triathlon in Spain yesterday.
Hewitt, 25, repeated her runner-up finish of a year ago in Madrid, finishing behind Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal, who won the event for a fifth successive year.
Hewitt showed the improved strength in her running in a race that saw a mass exit on to the 10km run leg after the failure of anyone to break away on the bike leg.
Kris Gemmell was the best of New Zealand's elite men, finishing 11th in a race won by the Czech Republic's Filip Ospaly.
Whangarei athlete Nicky Samuels was eighth and Dunedin's Taryn McLeod was 16th, a result that could earn her a start at the world championships in Germany this year.
