Gemmell has the edge despite strong field

BY PENNY MILES

Kris Gemmell and Frenchman Laurent Vidal go head-to-head in today's ITU Oceania Cup triathlon in Wellington with defending champion Bevan Docherty missing from the field.

Docherty, who got married last year and is now based in the United States, won't return Down Under until the first world championships series race in Sydney next month.

National triathlon coach Greg Fraine has kept a close eye on the Triathlon NZ high performance squad during a training camp in Wanaka over the past fortnight and believes there is plenty of depth in the men's field despite Docherty's absence.

Gemmell, 32, is the favourite.

He skipped the Wellington event last year, but won the sprint distance race in Takapuna earlier this month.

In that race Gemmell was tested by up-and-comer Ryan Sissons, but Fraine believes pride will motivate Gemmell today.

"Some of the young guys will be challenging Gemmell, but he's an experienced athlete and he's not going to sit back and let them win, that's for sure," Fraine said.

Vidal, the world No6 and boyfriend of New Zealand triathlete Andrew Hewitt, recently gate-crashed New Zealand's training camp in the South Island, but Fraine said Triathlon NZ was keen to help the Frenchman out.

"The French federation helps Andrea out too, so we help him out."

Fraine and Triathlon NZ will also use the event to select a junior team for this year's under-23 elite world championships.

"This is the biggest Olympic distance race in New Zealand and there are several ITU ranking points available," Fraine said.

"For a lot of our young guys, ranked anywhere from 30th to 100th, this race will make quite a big difference. It could move someone in the 30s up to the 20s."

Wellington's Martin van Barneveld, ranked within the world's top 100, will be looking to capitalise on home advantage.

The women's field is a strong one with all the top Kiwis except for Beijing Olympian Sam Warriner, who is injured, here.

World No 3, Hewitt, Debbie Tanner, Nicky Samuels and Wellington's Kate McIlroy, will be joined by top German Anja Dittmer.

Fraine said he was rapt to have so much depth in the women's programme.

Hewitt, Tanner, Samuels, Warriner and McIlroy have all been identified as potential London 2012 Olympic Games medallists.

"It's fantastic. It makes my life a lot easier," he said.

"It's been good having Kate come in, and then Nicky is coming back into form as well, so it's really, really encouraging."

"If you look at the rankings for all countries at the moment, we're second as a nation for women, so it's fantastic to have that much depth and quality."

Wellington also hosts age-group and participation triathlon races today as part of the Contact Tri Series. These races, managed by Triathlon NZ, start from the Oriental Bay beach.

The Oceania Cup men's race begins at 10.45am and the women's race 10.50am from Chaffers Marina, near Te Papa.

The transition area and finish line for the Oceania Cup is based at Waitangi Park, with the bike and run course comprising laps of an Oriental Parade circuit.

Oriental Bay will be closed to some traffic this morning.

STARTING TIMES

What and when: ITU Oceania Cup and National Championships, today.

Trophy men 7:15am; Trophy women 7:20am; Trophy teams 7:25am; 3:9:3 men 8:15am; 3:9:3 women 8:17am; 3:9:3 teams 8:20am; U19 men10:00am; U9 women 10:05am; Elite/U23 men 10:45am; Elite/U23 women 10:50am.

- © Fairfax NZ News