New Zealanders fly the flag at World Duathlon Champs this weekend

A 21 strong New Zealand team will race this weekend at the World Duathlon Championships in Concord, North Carolina USA with Sam Warriner a surprise entry in the elite women’s race.

The team is made up largely of age group athletes but Warriner is further expanding her CV in a year that has seen her experiment with Half Ironman races as well as picking up the World Aquathlon title at the recent Gold Coast World Championships.

Warriner is joined by three others in elite racing, with Nathan Coombes and Nick Rennie competing in the U19 category while David Cooper will race in the U23 men’s event.

All racing will take place on the Saturday local time, albeit Concord is behind 16 hours behind New Zealand so results will be available Sunday New Zealand time. Racing is over 10km run, 40km bike and a 5km run to the finish.

Athletes earned their selection at the qualifying event in Christchurch earlier this year in the Contact Duathlon Series and have since been working towards their big day wearing the silver fern.

The athletes range in age from Tessa Walker in the 18-19 category through to John Wood who races in the 70-74 category. They represent a wide range of regions in New Zealand with Canterbury (6), Marlborough (1), Wellington (2), Kapiti (4), Taranaki (1) and North Harbour (1) all proudly sending duathletes away.

For further information on the ITU World Duathlon Championships, click here

New Zealand Team

2009 Duathlon World Championships

Concord, North Carolina, USA

Elite Athletes

Nathan Coombes U19

Nick Rennie U19

David Cooper U23

Samantha Warriner Elite Women Whangarei

Age Group Athletes

Tessa Walker 18-19F Canterbury

Matt Milne 18-19M Canterbury

Kelly Parlane 20-24F North Harbour

Adam Milne 20-24M Canterbury

Sam Letham 20-24M Canterbury

Daniel Clout 25-29M Taranaki

Joshua Scott 25-29M Marlborough

Damon Peachey 30-34M Wellington

Rhonda Turner 35-39F Kapiti

Myles Cockburn 35-39M Overseas

Nicola Sproule 40-44F Auckland City

Murray Doughty 45-49M Wellington

Brenda Fortune 55-59F Canterbury

Christine Todd 55-59F Canterbury

Harold Robinson 60-64M Kapiti

Ann Bould 65-69M Kapiti

John Wood 70-74M Kapiti