TRIATHLON

Phillips and Crombie take their 2nd titles at the House of Travel Triathlon Festival

By John Newsom

Mike Phillips and Fiona Crombie have taken out the Christchurch Casino Elite Cup at the House of Travel Triathlon Festival held at Pegasus on Sunday November 29.

The race format of a super sprint required the 32 athletes to complete a 350m swim, 10km bike and a 2.5km run, twice, giving the good crowd that gathered plenty of fast paced action to enjoy.

The women’s field were given a 9 minute 45 second  handicap to start the race, and given the added incentive of staying ahead of the men to win a cash bonus after crossing the finish line.
Women’s champion, Fiona Crombie said the race win was a bit of a surprise.

“This was my first hit out for the season and I really didn’t expect it. It is always nice doing the House of Travel race, I love the course and because the triathlon community is quite small, we all know each other so it’s great to race against your friends.”


Photo courtesy of John Newsom

Crombie said heading into the last run leg leading the girls, she wasn’t aware of the lead over the boys who were closing the gap behind her.

“I hadn’t really been focused on the guys, I knew we had a pretty good lead and the girls all kept together pushing the pace particularly on the bike.”

Crombie said she always enjoys starting the season with the super sprint and said the crowd were fantastic.

“I love this format because anything can happen. Any decision you make can make or break your race and you also get a chance to work on your fundamentals like transitions. The course is very spectator friendly and the crowd that came out were really loud.”


Photo courtesy of John Newsom

For the men’s champion Mike Phillips, the race was won on the final swim and bike leg as he chased down Sam Elstob who was leading after breaking away at the end of the first run leg.

“I was a bit worried after that first run to be honest, I wasn’t sure if I had the legs, so I just had to put in a big swim and bike to be able to give myself enough of a lead to run it home.”

“This type of race is such a tactical race; it goes by so quickly you have to really be on your game. No time to make a wrong decision.”


Photo courtesy of John Newsom

Phillips said he gave a big push halfway through the run to chase down the girls, but realised they were just out of reach.

Both Crombie and Phillips have said they will take a break over Christmas before hitting the ground running in January.


Photo courtesy of John Newsom

The House of Travel Triathlon Festival included a variety of events from 5 year olds up attracting close on 400 entrants. 

RESULTS - full results are available at www.triathlonfestival.co.nz 


Christchurch Casino Elite Cup
Male
1 MIKE PHILLIPS   01:04:59
2 ZAC BARBER   01:05:33
3 HAMISH HAMMOND   01:05:37
4 SAM ELSTOB   01:05:58
5 JAKE JACKSON-GRAMMER   01:06:31

Female
1 FIONA CROMBIE 01:12:35
2 JULIA GRANT 01:13:05
3 KIRI ATKIN 01:13:24
4 LAURA WOOD 01:13:57
5 MARTINA FELLMANN 01:16:41