Triathlete battles through conditions
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Despite a sore throat, partial race cancellation and being temporarily pulled out of the race, Dargaville triathlete Lee Greer still got bronze at the World Triathlon Championships at Vancouver, Canada.
The 22-year-old woke with a sore throat on the day of his race on June 7, and jogged a kilometre from where he was staying to the starting line only to find the triathlon had been reduced to a duathlon – with Lee’s strongest skill of swimming, cut from the event.
Officials had told the 100 international entrants the swim was cancelled due to high seas.
In an email to his parents, Lee says his sore throat was "annoying" but had no affect on his race but he was angry and frustrated at having to compete in the reduced event, says proud mum Margaret Greer.
Lee started swimming while attending Kaihu Valley School.
"It was then that Dargaville swimming coach Janet Froggatt noticed him and said he should be in the swimming club," says Margaret.
From then, it was full steam ahead for the young sportsman. He joined the swimming club, and at age eight was the youngest participant in the annual Kumara Triathlon.
"He didn’t come last but he certainly completed it, and it was after that the officials decided not to allow children that young to enter the competition," says Mrs Greer.
At age 15, Lee entered again and became an annual participant in the local triathlon.
He was made sports dux at Dargaville High School for swimming and after gradution began work in the building trade.
Margaret says Lee started doing more running and bike riding when he moved to Whangarei for work.
"He regularly competes in the Stroke and Stride event at Auckland, which attracts athletes from all around New Zealand," says Margaret.
Before the Vancouver race, Lee had been training with Beijing Olympic contender Whangarei-based Sam Warriner.
However, Margaret says Lee will have to beat some of New Zealand’s elite athletes before he could compete in the Olympics.
Athletes like Bevan Dockerty or Chris Gemmel would need to be behind him but he did beat Nicky Samuels in the Mangawhai Triathlon last year. He also came 11th in Hamburg in 2007.
Two years ago, he came fourth in the world championships in Switzerland.
Margaret says sponsorship has been difficult to obtain but Lee and his family are appreciative of Whangarei doctor Roger Winton for his generous sponsorship.
"Lee says some overseas athletes take for granted their ability to compete because they seem to have plenty of money. They aren’t serious about it."
Margaret describes her son, the youngest of two boys, as a "nice kid, who is serious about his sport".
His brother Steve, 26, is in the franchise building industry in Whangarei.
Margaret and her husband John farm north of Dargaville.
