Among them is Napier Boys\u2019 High School student Eliot Webber, 16, who will race alongside his father, Jeremy Webber. <\/p>\n
Eliot grew up in a triathlon household, with both parents racing iron-distance events. <\/p>\n
\u201cI started doing the sport when I was around 4, and then I got into it competitively a couple of years ago, I haven\u2019t looked back,\u201d he told Hawke\u2019s Bay Today.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, when I was 15, I went overseas and I raced at the XTerra, which is an off-road triathlon World Champs in Italy. So that was a really special moment. The first time I\u2019ve represented New Zealand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eliot racing at the World Champs in Italy, last year.<\/p>\n
Now, as the youngest Hawke\u2019s Bay athlete heading to Wollongong, his week is a mix of pool sessions, after-school runs, long weekend rides, and early alarms. <\/p>\n
\u201cI wake up at five,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cOutside of triathlon, I do water polo, I do debating at school, and I\u2019m also juggling that with getting my pilot\u2019s licence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eliot will travel to Wollongong with his sport-enthusiast-family, including 18-year-old sister Sophie, and his father, Jeremy, who will race under the 45\u201349 male category.<\/p>\n
Eliot says his dad is his \u201cinspiration\u201d.<\/p>\n
The father-son duo trains together whenever they can.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s got to a stage where I\u2019m learning from him,\u201d Jeremy said.<\/p>\n
He previously raced the Ironman Worlds in 2010 and the 70.3 Worlds in Taup\u014d last year.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a thrill to see your kids share the same passion and fulfilment from a sport that\u2019s given me plenty of opportunity,\u201d Jeremy says.<\/p>\n
\u201cExpectations for this one is to enjoy sharing the racecourse with family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eliot Webber with sister Sophie and father Jeremy at a triathlon event. <\/p>\n
The Bay\u2019s youngest woman qualified, Mackenzie Speers, 18, of Havelock North High School says she wants to do a \u201cclean race\u201d with \u201csmooth transitions.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s what I hope most for, and then just see how the placing and time goes.\u201d<\/p>\n
Speers trains twice a day most days and aims to become a professional athlete.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope to get to a higher level and keeping representing New Zealand,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
Havelock North High School student Mackenzie Speers training at the Hawke\u2019s Bay Sports Park. Photo \/ Rafaella Melo<\/p>\n
At the other end of the age range is Glen Yule, 62, a Hawke\u2019s Bay police detective who has been racing triathlons since 1982. <\/p>\n
He has represented New Zealand over Olympic distance in 2009, 2012, and 2018.<\/p>\n
Yule trains about 15 hours a week, fitting in four rides, four runs, and two swims around his work and family.<\/p>\n
\u201cI get up early Tuesdays and Thursdays at 4.45am to go swimming with my swim squad. I go straight to my day job as a Detective with the NZ Police. Those days I\u2019m on my bike at 4.15pm to ride with my riding group \u2018The Gangstas\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
The draw card, he says, is community and longevity. <\/p>\n
\u201cTraining with a group makes the process so much more enjoyable as your mates push you to your best,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only limiting factor is me … I have my plan and stick to that rather than worry about what my competitors are doing. I visualise the whole race many times over beforehand, and stopping never comes into the picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
Detective Glen Yule, 62, is the oldest HB athlete to represent NZ in Australia next month.<\/p>\n
The Wollongong championships will feature Olympic-distance races, a 1.5km swim, 40km bike, and 10km run, alongside sprint and para-triathlon events.<\/p>\n
Rimene said he hoped the success of the Hawke\u2019s Bay athletes would inspire others to take up the sport, especially with New Zealand hosting the World Champs in Tauranga in 2028.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen Taup\u014d hosted the 70.3 Worlds last year, we saw a huge influx of triathletes into Hawke\u2019s Bay. People thought it was a cool thing to do, and we\u2019d expect the same again in 2028.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hawke\u2019s Bay athletes representing NZ in Wollongong are:<\/p>\n
\u2022\t16\u201319 Female \u2013 Mackenzie Speers<\/p>\n
\u2022\t40\u201344 Female \u2013 Tracey Kelsey<\/p>\n
\u2022\t45\u201349 Female \u2013 Liana Gerbes<\/p>\n
\u2022\t50\u201354 Female \u2013 Lisa Chittick<\/p>\n
\u2022\t16\u201319 Male \u2013 Sam McHale<\/p>\n
\u2022\t16\u201319 Male \u2013 Eliot Webber<\/p>\n
\u2022\t20\u201324 Male \u2013 Mitchell Hohaia<\/p>\n
\u2022\t40\u201344 Male \u2013 William Kelsey<\/p>\n
\u2022\t45\u201349 Male \u2013 Jeremy Webber<\/p>\n
\u2022\t50\u201354 Male \u2013 Graham Minnie<\/p>\n
\u2022\t50\u201354 Male \u2013 Andrew West<\/p>\n
\u2022\t55\u201359 Male \u2013 Gary Fazackerley<\/p>\n
\u2022\t55\u201359 Male \u2013 Carlton Oliver<\/p>\n
\u2022\t55\u201359 Male \u2013 Richard Stone<\/p>\n
\u2022\t60\u201364 Male \u2013 Glen Yule<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Among them is Napier Boys\u2019 High School student Eliot Webber, 16, who will race alongside his father, Jeremy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32594,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[85,1561,18239,2082,1976,78,111,139,69,90,3111,30908,213,7187,223,61,30909,664,810,377],"class_list":["post-32593","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-australia","tag-bay","tag-championship","tag-for","tag-hawkes","tag-in","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-on","tag-out","tag-rugbysized","tag-sports","tag-team","tag-the","tag-to","tag-triathlon","tag-turn","tag-up","tag-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32593","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32593"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32593\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32593"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32593"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32593"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}