Wanaka’s Braden Currie has finished second in today’s Integrity Homes Challenge Wanaka Half just 13 seconds adrift of men's winner Kyle Smith (Taupo).

Braden was more than 4 minutes behind Kyle on the bike leg and had the crowd on the edge of their seats as he steadily reduced the deficit in the final run leg.

In picture perfect conditions at Glendhu Bay Kyle made an explosive attempt to gain an early advantage, and succeeded. The two favourites were ‘toe to toe’ in terms of pace from that point on.  

"The swim course was beautiful this morning. You couldn’t have asked for a better morning for it. Kyle and I started the swim together, which was where I knew I needed to be early on in the race today. After about 400m and after rounding the first buoy, Kyle broke away", said Braden.

Coming out of the swim, Kyle had a 47 second lead on Braden and steadily extended creating a 4min 30sec gap until lap 4 where Braden began to hold Kyle’s pace.

“The legs were pretty slammed the first 40-50km of the bike and took a lot to get going before I found some rhythm,” said Braden

Braden clawed back significant time on the run leg and an impressive sprint finish after an exceptional chase had Kyle arrive in 1st place just 13 seconds ahead.

2019 winner Hannah Wells (Bay of Plenty) repeated her success with a triumphant win in the women’s event on the tough new 2021 course. 

Left to right - Maeve Kennedy in 3rd, Hannah Wells in 1st and Rebecca Clarke in 2nd. PHOTO: Neil Kerr

“I was really happy with my swim and to stick with Becs [Rebecca Clarke] was great as she is a great swimmer. I wanted to bike pretty hard and try and remain conservative on the run. That was my plan and it seemed to work,” said Hannah. 

Hannah came out of the swim with Rebecca Clarke but on the first lap of the 5-lap bike course took the lead and consolidated that into over 4 minutes.

“My initial plan was to solo the swim but Hannah has no weakness now and is swimming with me, so I decided to ride my own ride and try and keep a time gap to her not too much and put time on third and fourth place,” said Rebecca.  

The 21km run course finishes with a section along the Motatapu road where the women had to pace themselves in the heat and grind out the kilometres. 

In third place was Maeve Kennedy an Australian who has recently moved to Wanaka and gained professional status.

Full results here.