Vicky Jones hopes she will inspire another generation of athletes. Photos Laura BagrieVicky Jones loves a challenge.

The sporty mum-of-two completed the Coast to Coast last year and is still buzzing about her top finish in the Challenge Wanaka ironman event 10 days ago.

She was the fifth woman home from a field of 26 in 12.05.52 hours and will now prepare for the world age-group triathlon championships in the Gold Coast in September.

Jones, 38, qualified for the worlds after two great performances in shorter distance triathlons she was treating as warm-up events for Challenge Wanaka.

But it is no accident that she will wear the colours of the national team because she has worked hard, juggling training around precious time with husband Aaron and their daughters Zoe, 8 and Millie, 6, work and running their busy household.

Jones had been competing on instinct in the Coast to Coast and other multisport events like the Hard Labour and Motatapu, but she engaged coach Richard Greer and the help of health and fitness professionals to draw up a plan for the ironman in Wanaka, where she would swim 3.8km, cycle 180km and run a 42km marathon.

Every day since last August she has consulted the training diary on her cellphone, which dictated if she would start her day with a 6am open water swim at Lake Hood or head to the Rakaia Gorge for punishing kilometres on her road bike.

Some days she ran an Olympic distance triathlon while the kids were at school.

It was odd checking the phone now to see nothing on the page, she said, but that will change after a brief off-season and Jones will then prepare for the worlds.

She has qualified for both the sprint and Olympic distance events. They are several days apart and Jones may pick just one to concentrate on.

“The challenge now is to get better. I’m not worried about finishing, more about finishing the best I can.”

Jones said she enjoyed all the triathlon disciplines and paying careful attention to her body and nutrition, with the help of dietician Cushla Holdaway and the team at Modus in Ashburton, meant she was feeling great when she pulled on the wetsuit for the first swim leg in the choppy waters of Lake Wanaka.

Chilling air temperatures greeted Jones when she exited the water with the first group but the day warmed up as the cycle leg progressed.

Looping through Wanaka on the cycle and then marathon run legs, her fan club shouted encouragement.

They were ready with the Moet when she crossed the finish line.

Jones said she did enjoy the champagne, but only after she had followed the recovery steps recommended by her support team.

She said she had learned to pay a lot more attention to biomechanics and training smarter.

Getting her body injury-free to the start line had been a team affair with small, regular adjustments to techniques and remedial exercise and stretching.

Jones also followed advice on eating well to fuel her training, recovery and competition.

She said learning to eat on the move was vital as the race took her 12 hours, and she taped sandwiches, bananas and bars to her bike to provide alternatives to the gel energy shots.

While multisport and triathlons are a test of her physical and mental toughness, Jones hopes her achievements are also inspiration for her own daughters and the children she works with in her part-time job with Sport Canterbury.

Jones said her family had been huge supporters, but she had also been helped by sponsor Darryl Young, from Ricoh, who had paid for her entry fee and provided clothing for competition, training and recovery.

By Linda Clarke © The Ashburton Guardian - 28 February 2018

Alan Neumann (left), Ian Neumann and club president Craig Harrison after Valloria’s win in yesterday’s Hambletonian. Photo supplied.At some stage in the coming weeks, Ashburton brothers Alan and Ian Neumann will write a cheque to the Ashburton Trotting Club and then pretty quickly after that the Ashburton Trotting Club will turn around and hypothetically write one back to the Neumann brothers.

In a fitting result, the popular ownership combination and longtime harness racing supporters claimed victory in their own race – the Neumann Tyres Bandag Hambletonian Classic at Ashburton yesterday when Valloria continued the impressive start to his career by winning the Group Three feature.

Among the many plaudits being heaped toward the Neumann family following the impressive victory, there were none more vocal than John Dunn, the man who had the pleasure of sitting behind the three-year-old as he trotted to victory.

“This is just the perfect result for us, we are absolutely over the moon,” Dunn said.

“To win a race that the Neumanns have been sponsoring for so long with their first ever starter in the race is special and a real fitting way for us to be able to thank two of our biggest supporters.”

Purchased for $32,500 as a yearling in the final offering of the breed of the late Carl Middleton, Valloria has always been held in high regard and the plan when he came up so well earlier this season was to target the Ashburton feature with him.

“When he started working up nice I said to Johnny that we needed to aim him for the Hambletonian for Alan and Ian and it’s nice to have pulled it off,” trainer Robert Dunn said.

“They are honestly two of the best owners you would ever find and two of the best we could ever ask for.”

Forced to do work, Valloria swept by the talented Renezmae on the home bend and went for home.

After racing into a strong head wind for the entire back straight, John Dunn had fears they would come at him late, but he coasted to victory – winning impressively.

“He actually did it quite well in the end, we had a wee bit more in store I think.

“He’s still learning too, that’s the incredible thing because in theory, he should only get better.”

Valloria is the second foal of the former smart mare, Savona who did a good job for Middleton both here and in Australia before she returned home for stud duties.

The mare was sold at the Milburn Farm Dispersal Sale back in 2015.

The race proved to be a perfect taste test for what lies ahead for the three-year-old trotters with some outstanding runs in behind the winner.

Runner-up Stress Factor and the third placed Show Gait were both huge, while plenty with keen eyes will have noted the dour performance of Renezmae from the outside of the front line and also the effort of Sundee’s Son who romped home from last on the turn to finish fifth.

After one local success, Ashburton was back in the winners’ circle in the very next race when Pradas Ideal Dahling won for Simon Adlam.

By Matt Markham © The Ashburton Guardian - 26 February 2018

Jason Christie - Photo supplied.National road cycling champion Jason Christie showed his class by taking out Saturday’s 100km Rike the Rakaia by almost five minutes.

Christie, who won his second national title in January, cut out the scenic course in 2.31.04, riding away from the field in the Rakaia Gorge and leading 40km to the finish line in Rakaia.

The winning woman was defending Rakaia title-holder Sharlotte Lucas in 2.36.38.

Lucas was one of four women in a bunch sprint for the line with the men’s place-getters Brett Grieve in second and Scott McDonnell in third.

Georgia Catterick was officially the second woman home, with youngers Hannah Bartram and Henrietta Christie another second back.

It was the fourth time Lucas has won the women’s race.

Jason Christie and Catterick took the King and Queen of the Mountain prizes for being first through the gorge.

Christie had been predicted to dominate the race and organiser John Moore said he showed his strength in the gorge, which involved a hairy descent to cross the Rakaia River via a one-lane bridge and a brutal climb up the other side.

It is the first time Christie has taken part in the event, which starts in Rakaia township, goes north across the Rakaia River bridge and overbridge, then heads west towards the hills and the gorge. It is a hard grind up to the gorge and downhill on the way home to Rakaia on the southern side of the river.

Moore said it was a great ride, with many cyclists returning year after year to take part.

While Christie dominated the men, the women’s title was a four-way affair with Lucas, Catterick, Bartram and Henrietta Christie in the mix.

Three small groups amalgated on the ride home to make for an exciting bunch sprint.

Around 150 riders took part in Saturday’s race.

By Linda Clarke © The Ashburton Guardian - 26 February 2018