Carter shines in relay

Competitors and spectators were provided a rare treat at the Your Accountant Community teams triathlon held at the ASB Aquatic Centre on Saturday.

After a four-year absence from the sport, Athens Olympic gold medal triathlete Hamish Carter teamed up with Ryan Kelly in the business team, Southern Wilderness Stars, to be the first relay team across the line. Carter's swim and run were the quickest in the relay event, and showed a glimpse of why he was one of the world's top triathletes.

The inaugural teams event attracted 130 competitors which included a 200m swim in the ASB Aquatic Centre pool, a 12km cycle around Richmond's streets and a 3km run by the pool. A duathlon option and children's swim-run aquathon were also included.

With the Southern Wilderness Stars taking overall honours in the relay event, the battle was intense for second. Shlannah's Tom Armstrong, Hannah Starnes and Shannon Smith were second out of the pool from ABCs Andrea O'Fee, Brooke Thomas and Cameron Mitchell. They held that advantage for the rest of the event.

Next in was the Community Group team from St Johns of C Allan, Murray Hart and A Hart, closely followed by Team Biz Fitness of Kaitlyn Wehner, Daryl O'Reilly and Stu Wehner.

In the full triathlon teams event, involving the two team members' accumulated times, competition was quick, with The Jogaz team of Jon Linyard and Gary Milbanke exiting the water with a lead over the Blueberry IT team of Henry and Frankie Kersten.

They built on this lead throughout, finishing 5min 32sec ahead. Susie Wood and Jeanie Kuhajek of Cawthron Slim Seekers were third and the first women's team, 3min 5sec further back.

In the full duathlon event, The Young Ones, Fran Kerse and Eileen Beattie, won, with Lisa Williams and Jamie White of Can't Swim Won't Swim second.

The children's aquathon saw 10-year-old David Price dominate, finishing 50sec ahead of Amy Pike with only another second back to the fast-finishing Andi Butler in third place.

Results: Relay team business: Southern Wilderness Stars 38.48 1, Team Biz Fitness 41.57 2, Coman Construction (Hamish Kappely, Rua Sargent, Ben Coman) 48.04 3; relay community group: St John 41.31 1, St John (Ian Black, Gary Tobin, Chris Reidie) 44.27 2, Church (Ruby Dunne, Alison White, Isaac Dunne) 46.59 3.

Relay team family: Wehnerteam (Brianna Wehner, Daryl Wehner) 43.03 1, Team W (Olivia Wilbourne, Mike Widgeny, Jennie Wilbourne) 50.11 2, The Kellys (Eileen Kelly, Louise Kelly, Luke Kelly) 50.11 3; relay team open: Shlannah 39.11 1, ABC 39.55 2, BBK (Belinda Drummond, Kay Palmer, Brenda Lowen) 47.27 3; full tri team business: Blueberry IT 1.16.00 1, Cawthron Slim Seekers 1.19.05 2, Wilsons Abel Tasman (Dan Smith, Shay Gill) 1.24.22 3; full tri team community group: St John (R Christie, A Currie) 1.48.50 1.

- © Fairfax NZ News