Last weekend’s House of Travel Triathlon Festival was a huge success at the stunning Pegasus venue near Christchurch.
The brand new township provided the backdrop for a great day’s racing which catered for everyone from beginners to elites.
Event Director John Newsom is understandably content with how smoothly the event ran in its debut year.
"It was a great day. Good for the competitors, good for the spectators, good for the sponsors and good for the sport as a whole down here,” he told Radio Sport.
"I sold a vision of what I thought I could do at this venue and I think we did it.”
Andrea Hewitt made a statement for the season ahead, winning the women’s elite race (500m swim, 15km bike, 5km run) by almost a minute over Nicky Samuels with a time of 51 minutes and 28 seconds.
For the men, Tony Dodds led from start to finish to cap an impressive effort in 47 minutes and 14 seconds.
"It was pretty awesome, especially coming off a big week,” Dodds told Radio Sport.
"I wanted to see where I was at for the season and it definitely went better than I thought it would.”
Elite results:
Men
1. Tony Dodds 00:47:14
2. Martin van Barneveld 00:47:42
3. Tom Davison 00:47:48
Women
1. Andrea Hewitt 00:51:28
2. Nicky Samuels 00:52:12
3. Julia Grant 00:54:21
