• Hamish Carter & Erin Baker ‘NZ Triathletes of the Year’ announced
• Ultraman world champion Simon Cochrane honoured with ‘President’s Award’
• Age group and community stars celebrated
Smith and Watkinson scoop long distance gongs at gala dinner
Auckland (April 28, 2024) – Hayden Wilde and Nicole van der Kaay have captured the supreme titles at the resurrected Triathlon New Zealand Awards held on Auckland’s North Shore on Saturday night.
Wilde was recognised as the inaugural winner of the Hamish Carter NZ Male Triathlete of the Year after a stellar 2023 highlighted by his World Triathlon Sprint Championship title in Hamburg and runner-up finishes in both the World Triathlon Championship Series (WTCS) and supertri series.
Van der Kaay won a perfect five from five Oceania titles to open 2023 and then secured two top 8s at WTCS level to achieved the secondary qualifying criteria for July’s Paris Olympic Games. It earned the Taupo 28-year-old the inaugural Erin Baker NZ Female Triathlete of the Year title.
Swim, bike and run pioneer Baker, an eight time world champion, and Athens Olympic Games gold medallist Carter lent their names to the supreme titles in the first Tri NZ Awards held since the mid 2000s.
Like van der Kaay and Andorra-based Wilde, elite Tri NZ Long Distance Athletes of the Year Kyle Smith and Sunshine Coast-based Amelia Watkinson also sent acceptance speeches via video as they train offshore with the North American and European season cranking into gear.
Van der Kaay accepted her award from China where she will race World Cup Chengdu on Monday (NZT) along with partner Tayler Reid, a finalist in theHamish Carter NZ Male Triathlete of the Year category.
Waikato endurance star Simon Cochrane was also recognised with the inaugural Tri NZ President’s Award after going from Ultraman rookie to world champion in three record breaking races. Ultraman is the Ironman distance doubled, 515km of racing held over three gruelling days. Cochrane won Ultraman Australian, Ultraman Canada and the world title in long distance triathlon’s birthplace, Hawaii, in the space of seven months.
A host of age group and community awards were also presented during the gala dinner at AUT Millennium, Tri NZ’s national HQ.
Tri NZ CEO Pete De Wet announced the national governing body would introduce new awards in 2025 including club and volunteer gongs and would also celebrate the first inductees into a new Tri NZ Hall of Fame.
2023 Triathlon New Zealand Awards
AGE GROUP & COMMUNITY AWARDS
Tri NZ Female Short Course Age Grouper of the Year
Winner: Ange Keen
Tri NZ Male Short Course Age Grouper of the Year
Winner: Blake Miller
Tri NZ Female Long Distance Age Grouper of the Year
Winner: Vanessa Murray
Tri NZ Male Long Distance Age Grouper of the Year
Winner: Michael Glynn
Tri NZ Technical Official of the Year
Winner: Cathi Davey
Tri NZ President’s Award
Simon Cochrane
ELITE AWARDS
Tri NZ Long Distance Female Triathlete of the Year
Winner: Amelia Watkinson
Tri NZ Long Distance Male Triathlete of the Year
Winner: Kyle Smith
Tri NZ Female Para Athlete of the Year
Winner: Maria Williams
Tri NZ Male Para Athlete of the Year
Winner: Kurt Peterson
Tri NZ U23 Female Triathlete of the Year
Winner: Brea Roderick
Tri NZ U23 Male Triathlete of the Year
Winner: Dylan McCullough
Erin Baker NZ Female Triathlete of the Year
Winner: Nicole van der Kaay
Hamish Carter NZ Male Triathlete of the Year
Winner: Hayden Wilde
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In 2023, Tri NZ reinstated the elite and U23 NZ Sprint and Standard Distance titles to rightfully honour its national champions over the sport’s two predominant and globally accepted short course distances.
World Triathlon Cup Napier doubled as the elite NZ Sprint Championships for elites and will do so for at least the next two editions in Hawke’s Bay.
The Oceania Standard Distance Championships in Taupo then served as the elite NZ Standard Distance Championship for our elites and U23s, with the U23 sprint title decided at the Oceania Sprint & Relay Championships in Devonport, Tasmania.
NZ Sprint Distance Champions
Elite
Ainsley Thorpe (8th Napier
Hayden Wilde (2nd Napier)
U23
Brea Roderick (2nd overall and 1st U23)
Dylan McCullough (1st overall)
NZ Standard Distance Champions
Elite
Ainsley Thorpe (3rd Taupo)
Tayler Reid (2nd Taupo)
U23
Brea Roderick (6th Taupo)
Gus Marfell (19th Taupo)
