MULTISPORT
GISBORNE Boys’ High School student Tayler Reid can’t wait to put into practice what he learned at a Triathlon New Zealand academy/athletes camp in Auckland.
The Eastland Triathlon and Multisport Club youngster said that mixing with some of New Zealand’s top triathlete coaches — including former world triathlon champion Rick Wells — was an awesome experience.
“I learned so much,” said the 15-year-old, who will compete at a triathlon in Whangamata on January 3.
“Rick is a legend in the sport and it was an awesome experience listening to him and the other coaches.
“Hopefully I can apply everything I learned in Auckland and put it all together in Whangamata.”
Reid is using the Whangamata tri as a build-up to the national sprint championships in Kinloch in February — his final opportunity to qualify for the under-19 division of next year’s world championships in Auckland.
Reid said the Auckland camp was organised by Tri NZ coaching/youth manager Brett Reid.
“My coach, John Scott, also attended and took some of the sessions.
“It was fantastic to be invited. Having the valuable knowledge of all the different people made it so interesting.”
Reid left Gisborne by car at 3am on Monday and arrived in camp at 10am for an 11am start.
“Our first session was with Rick — an open-water swimming session at Mission Bay followed by an easy run back to Tri NZ.
“I learned how to sight the swimming buoys properly. This enables you to minimise the overall distance you need to swim.
“It was important for me because I have navigation problems sometimes when I don’t lift my head enough or have sighted the wrong buoy.”
That was followed by a leadership session with Barry Larsen, who competed at two world triathlon championships.
“I learned to think about the way I prepare myself for races and training. It taught me how to manage my time, plan and prepare better.
“I also learned that you can either lead your life or be led; and that it is not what happens to you that matters but how you respond.”
Any thoughts of sleeping in were dispelled when Reid and other young athletes were up at 6.15am on day two, for a two-hour group bike ride followed by a workshop on bike mechanics.
“Everything I had learned from my sponsor at Avanti Plus Main Trax — about the importance of looking after your equipment, treating it with respect and keeping it clean so it’s in good working order to perform — was reinforced.
“Later that morning we had another session with Rick, in the pool, which is another area I need to work on.”
While in Auckland, Reid finished second in a five-kilometre beach run at Takapuna Beach.
Triathlon New Zealand under-19 squad member Sam Ward beat Reid by two seconds.
New Zealand Olympic cyclist Paul Leitch spent time with the athletes, emphasising the need to ride in groups.
“He spoke on the importance of balancing my weight on the bike when accelerating,” Reid said.
“We also did a core, flexibility and strength session, which I knew something about thanks to another of my sponsors, Michelle Franks Pilates.
“She has given me a really good base to work from. This is important, especially since I’m still growing.”
Reid and his camp-mates were meant to cycle in a velodrome but were prevented by rain.
“That was disappointing; I’d never raced in a velodrome.
“Penny Skaife from Tri NZ took a technical session on the rules. This was good and especially seeing the rule booklet and having the specifics explained out loud.
“Sometimes when you read things you interpret them differently, so it was good to get that sorted.”
Reid followed up his second placing in the beach run with another second — in a time of 19 minutes nine seconds — in a 1500-metre Kohi Beach Series swim race.
“It was really flat and you needed to walk out a long way to get to waist-deep water.”
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