Triathlon team scoop prizes at Taumarunui

Ruapehu Bulletin, Volume 10, Issue 479, 30 March 1993, Page 16

Triathlon team scoop prizes at Taumarunui

Ruapehu Health and Fitness Centre members; Patsy Johnson, Sharleszane (Hubba) Mareikura, Gavin Johnson, Charles Mareikura and Siegfried Bauer had a very successful day at the Drink Safe Triathlon in Taumarunui recently. Patsy Johnson, who has only recently started to take part as a competitor after serving in the support crew, took the trophy for 1st individual woman, while Siegfried Bauer (10km run) and Charles Mareikura (8km canoeing and 40 km cycling) repeated last year's performance in winning the Masters Team event by a comfortable margin. Gavin Johnson was narrowly pipped from 3rd place in the individual men's open. His 4th placing is a worthy

athletic achievement in this most competitive section of the event. Another Ohakune athlete, Colin Budge, whosE aim is to run in the Fletcher Marathon in early May also gave good account of himself by rurtning at an unfaltering strong pace 10km, only his inexperience on the water (it was the first time that he had paddled a canoe by himself) prevented him from a major placing in the individual men's open. _ The major accolades belong to 12-year-old Sharleszane (Hubba) Mareikura. He won the individual boys under 14 years section in style, after a puncture during the cycle stage. This would normally dispirit any competitor and it was not any easier for him as the hard-pressed support crew

van was kept busy looking after the 'big people'. But Hubba a 'fixer' by nature, changed and pumped up a spare innertube all by himself and was soon back in the saddle to continue, not only winning his individual section but also overtaking the leaders of the boys under 14 team. Sadly victory was not made as sweet as he deserved. While there were prizes for various sections for the 'big people', there was none for Hubba. The organisers explanation was that they had mistakenly sent out the wrong entry form which included a 12-14 years boys section. One prize however was that Hubba earned the admiration of the whole Rupehu Health and Fitness Centre contingent.