The Port of Tauranga Half is back for its 28th year in 2017! Founded by Sport Bay of Plenty, Port of Tauranga Half is one of the longest running and most popular triathlon events in New Zealand and with a rich history in the local Tauranga and triathlon community.
At the inaugural event they banked on a few dozen hardy souls showing up, dusting off the New Years hangovers and hitting Pilot Bay on a gloomy Tuesday morning in 1990.
Organisers, however, didn’t consider the triathlon boom was about to sweep New Zealand, or how one local’s mad-cap ideas would morph into a race that would eventually enthral a city.
When the gun went off at 7am, January 2, more than 230 individuals and 80 team swimmers plunged into the tide and headed off into the maze of boats clustered in the mist.
“We thought if we got 100 people in total, we’d be going ok,” inaugural race director Bruce Trask said. “It pretty much went off without a hitch – even though it rained like hell. Looking back, it seemed pretty casual but in reality, that was because we’d done the work beforehand, there were no injuries, no accidents and everyone had a really good time.”
The seeds of the race were sown six months earlier, when local adventurer and multisport athlete Troy Griffin approached then Mount Maunganui Borough Mayor Wayne Moultrie with an idea for an event. Griffin, an original from the Kiwifruit Coast Triathlon Club (now Triathlon Tauranga), competed in Ironman Hawaii in its early days and returned home enthused about its potential……
The Port of Tauranga Half is set to be the pinnacle event at the Mount Festival of Multisport! With the 2017 Port of Tauranga Half promising to be bigger and better than ever before.
ELITE MALE
1 Currie Braden
3 Brown Cameron
4 O'Grady Graham
5 Polizzi Alexander
6 Cochrane Simon
7 Davies-Campbell Jai
9 Hall Jason
10 Petrie Alexi
12 Paul Cameron
13 Rawles Eddie
14 Wilde Hayden
15 Rand Cooper
16 Rhodes Bryan
17 McPherson Kieran
18 Shaw Olly
19 Clark Sam
20 Plews Dan
ELITE FEMALE
30 Watkinson Amelia
32 Zane Ilaria
33 Grant Julia
34 Meo Pip
35 Cleaver Anna
37 Toulmin Karen
39 Hayes Tamsyn
40 Adam Teresa
41 Clarke Rebecca
42 Brent Alaina
43 Furness Erin