Kiwi triathletes make it 1 & 2 in French Grand Prix

Two New Zealand triathletes racing in their first race of the season with French club team, Cesson Sevigne (near Rennes), took out first and second place in the first Olympic distance triathlon of the year in Mezieres, France. Tom Moyes overcame a two minute deficit at the end of the bike leg to catch fellow Kiwi, Caleb Hill.

The swim leg was held in a river in the middle of the town, fighting a strong current for the first half of the race, Hill and Moyes left the water some 30sec clear of the field.

The bike leg of 42km had Hill setting out to put as much distance on Moyes as possible and finished the leg with a 2 minute lead over Stephan La Roué (France) and a further 30 seconds back to Moyes.

Out on the 10km run it was Moyes’s whose speed saw him move past both La Roué and Hill by the 5km mark, where he went on to win by more than a minute.

“I am thrilled to win first up today as I am still jet lagged and was real cold on the bike as it was raining all day”, said an elated Tom Moyes from France.

The pair race for their club for the rest of the European summer in Grand Prix races and in ITU European Cup races.

“The aim of this year is to gain these two athletes valuable racing experience at an international level,” said coach Jack Ralston, “to podium on their first outing is a bonus as they only arrived in France on Thursday, I guess the weather suited them after leaving New Zealand as it was cold and wet throughout the race.”

RESULT: French Grand Prix League; Mezieres.
1. Tom Moyes (NZL) 1hr 57min 23sec
2. Caleb Hill (NZL) 1hr 59min 45sec
3. Stephan La Roué (FRA) 2hr 00min 36sec