Triathlon: Lean, hungry days on road to Games

By TERRY MADDAFORD

It wasn't so much hitting the wall, rather the hole in the wall that provided a turning point in a young Bevan Docherty's triathlon career.

Reflecting this week on his exalted No 1 ranking after his world championship triumph in Madeira last weekend, Docherty, 27, remembered his first individual race - a sprint distance event at Kinloch, not far from his Taupo home.

"I was dead last out of the water," Docherty said from Athens, where he and other members of New Zealand's triathlon contingent checked out the Olympic course. "At school I couldn't do 25m in the pool."

Docherty went into triathlon with a distance running background good enough to finish second in the 1995 New Zealand junior crosscountry championship.

After tackling the running leg in a team race while at Tauhara College, he contemplated his future as a triathlete.

He headed south for a year to do an engineering degree at Canterbury University but quickly decided that wasn't for him. "I wanted to focus on triathlons."

Eight years ago he headed overseas.

"I had absolutely no money. I borrowed $2000 off a friend who got that as a student loan. He funded me. I went away with great ambitions but only $500 in my pocket. I didn't know anyone. I went to Holland, where I trained for two months before going to Switzerland. I was still a junior."

The harsh reality of his situation soon hit home when the hole-in-the-wall refused to cough up any more money.

"I had to ring home and get an advance on my 21st birthday present," said Docherty, who was quick to acknowledge his parents' role in his success.

It was not easy. It was three or four years before he won any decent prizemoney.

"I won $1000 in a European Cup race. It was like a fortune."

His overseas racing/training season over, Docherty continued to return to Taupo, picking up whatever work he could to help fund his next campaign.

"I worked in forestry, at Dick Smith Electronics and restaurants."

And he managed his training around that.

He has been a fulltime athlete for eight years, an elite professional for the past three.

"Basically, for the past three years I have stopped calling on mum and dad for money."

So successful has he been that he is able to treat his parents to a trip to Athens in August.


Docherty's biggest payday came with a fourth-place finish in Minnesota, where he pocketed US$25,000 ($41,600). He picked up almost as much for his win in Madeira.

It is a payback he deserves.

Competing at this level demands training 30 hours a week and almost as much in recovery and racing.

"A lot of that recovery time is spent looking after my sponsors," he said. "I have built good relationships with my sponsors. The support I have had from Contact Energy, Orca - who have been with me throughout my career - Mizone and Team McMillan Mini have helped tremendously."

Docherty acknowledges that he has lived in the shadow of long-time rival Hamish Carter but sees that as a positive.

"He has done a lot for triathlon in New Zealand. Hamish has played a huge part in raising the standard and profile of our sport. It was great to beat him this week and be the first Kiwi home.

"By having three in the top 10 in Madeira and five in the top 12 in the last world championships in Queenstown we showed just what a force we are.

"It would be fantastic if we got a World Cup race in New Zealand. At present the only decent regular race we have in New Zealand is the Ironman."

Is he tempted to step up to the ultimate triathlon challenge, especially as it is contested in his hometown?

"Maybe later. Not in the next five years. Everything is focused towards Athens and then Beijing.

"Why," he joked, "do Ironman when I only have to do half as much training to compete in these Olympic distance races?"

His coach, Mark Elliott, who is also Triathlon NZ's high-performance manager, paid tribute to Docherty's work ethic.

"He has had to work harder than Hamish Carter to get to where he is. Hamish is a natural athlete. Bevan's strength is his huge aerobic base."

Yet, for a time, it seemed the Docherty-Elliott partnership would fold.

"After a poor showing in Cancun [Mexico] two years ago I virtually told him to bugger off, but his attitude changed. Now he has given me the biggest thrill of my coaching career.

"The way the crowd erupted at the finish in Madeira was amazing."