A swimming competitor comes up for air on the Whanganui River during the NZMG Triathlon.
A swimming competitor comes up for air on the Whanganui River during the NZMG Triathlon.
None could catch the ironman veteran as Kevin Nicholson took line honours ahead of nearly 50 other athletes in the Downer New Zealand Masters Games Triathlon at Kowhai Park today.
One of the more elite events in the social games due to the presence of regular multisport veterans, the triathlon takes in a 750m river swim, 24km road cycle, and 5km road run.
There were around 40 individual competitors and three teams, of which one member of each team tackled each discipline.
Nicholson was back in the pack at the end of the 750m swim from the Aramoho Rail Bridge back down Anzac Parade to the transition point beside the Whanganui Multisport and Triathlon Club Rooms.
The leading competitor was out of the water in just over seven minutes.
But it was the bike ride where Nicholson was able to shine, completing the two laps of 12km heading up to Riverbank Rd and back in good order, being chased by the three-person team competitors.
Whanganui's Tonia Nesbitt races on the bike leg of the NZMG Triathlon on Saturday.
Another two laps of 2.5km on foot to Kowhai Park and back, and Nicholson cruised over the line in 1h 10m 9s, which was about 12 minutes slower than the winning time of 2017, however the river did not have such a strong downstream current, not to mention the warmer weather.
"It was good, it was fun," said Nicholson when he got his breath back.
Both he and the leading competitors had to make do without a refreshing drink cup on their run leg when the officials only just realised the desk holding the cups had been placed back around 2m behind the finishline, being hastily moved after 6-7 runners had already come back to the halfway turn and headed off again.
"It was enjoyable, it's always a nice course," said Nicholson.
"It was a nice, fast swim, much faster than the ocean or lake.
"Better than what you actually think, I only caught a couple of twigs."
He was most pleased with his bike performance, making up the distance and then passing the leaders while staying ahead of the fresher team riders.
"Had a head wind, a tail wind, and a cross wind, a bit of everything."
Nicholson will still be staying busy as he plans to enter the duathlon on Wednesday, the first time in serveral Whanganui NZMG it has been scheduled after the triathlon, and then will do the swimming race on Thursday and the multisport swim and run on Sunday.
This is all buildup for the Ironman New Zealand on March 2, while he will also do the Iron Maori two weeks later.
Kevin Nicholson took line honours
Coming home second in line honours and the leading team in 1h 10m 21s was Dayle Cheatley, who did the running leg on behalf of his Whanganui sporting royalty team made up of wife Cath Cheatley and Clint Black.
The trio are better known for sports like cycling where Cath Cheatley was an Olympian and former professional while Dayle Cheatley coached New Zealand to incredible medal-winning success at World, Olympic and Commonwealth level, and in ironman/cycling where Black has been a regular national and international competitor.
All three of them will be entering other multiple sports events over the next week, with Cheatley doing the open water swim and joining her hockey team, while Black is doing the cycling road race on Sunday, and Dayle Cheatley is entering the 10km race and half marathon.
"It's great this sort of thing is in Wanganui, and to get to do anything you want is a great event. Fantastic," he said.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly named Clint Black as Clint Park, the well known Whanganui bowler.
