GEMMELL AND HEWITT PRODUCE STUNNERS AT TAKAPUNA Andrea Hewitt and Kris Gemmell were victorious at the Takapuna Round of the Contact Tri Series today, Hewitt winning from a fast finishing Sam Warriner and Gemmell out sprinting Laurent Vidal (France) and young star Ryan Sissons (Auckland). The Auckland weather cleared as racing got underway at just after midday with the Contact 3:9:3 beginner races, with sellout fields enjoying the closed road criterium style course, lined by supporters and fascinated shoppers in their thousands. The good weather proved a sign of racing to come with the women’s Contact Cup race a duel between the world class athletes and some aspiring Kiwis. On the bike a group formed that included Hewitt, Warriner, Lisa Norden (Sweden), Kate Roberts (South Africa), Rebecca Spence (Auckland) and Kate McIlroy (Wellington). But confusion at the transition from bike to run saw Warriner, Norden and Spence ride too far, emerging on the main course before turning and retracing their steps some 200m to the transition area. 
By now Hewitt, Tanner and others had cleared out, but Warriner showed her great determination by quickly gathering in most of the field to trail Hewitt, who lead at the halfway point in the run by 20 seconds. It proved enough, Warriner’s amazing effort was good for second but over a short 4.65km she was never going to regain the lost ground on Hewitt with the Christchurch athlete delighted with her first race of the season. “Wow, that was great. I enjoyed the course and the crowd and am thrilled to win. This was my first race of the year so I wasn’t sure how I was going to go but I felt great, especially on the run where I felt really strong.” In the men’s race Gemmell and Vidal emerged from the 500m swim with a 20 second lead on the big chase pack and put their heads down to establish a big lead on the bike, but despite their best efforts riding a great road pursuit between the two of them, they could never quite shake the chasers clear. In fact the bunch closed in right on transition, causing mayhem as some riders pushed too hard into the tight dismount area, leading to a crash which took out a number of contenders. Heading out on to the run it was young Ryan Sissons who took the race to his more vaunted opponents, leading for most of the journey in front of a huge crowd, all enjoying a cold drink and something to eat in the many restaurants and bars lining the course. Gemmell never let Sissons away though and stalked him throughout, finally making a move with 500m to go to win from Vidal with Sissons a brilliant third.  “That was a great race and a great atmosphere, what a day. Laurent and I certainly did it the hard way on the bike but once we were committed we had to keep going. But we couldn ‘t stay away from what was a huge bunch and it all closed up at transition. “Once on the run I just stayed with Ryan and kept an eye on Laurent, biding my time. I made a move up the hill away from the beach for the last time but heard my (new) coach Chris Pilone telling me ‘just calm down’ so I backed off a little being so early in the season. But I had plenty left and was able to kick clear but well done to Ryan and to Laurent, it was a great race for the crowd and a good one to win.” Contact Cup Elite Women 1 Andrea Hewitt Chch 53:15 2 Sam Warriner Whangarei 53:39 3 Kate Roberts South Africa 53:58 4 Kate McIlroy Wellington 54:08 5 Debbie Tanner Auckland 54:09 Contact Cup Elite Men 1 Kris Gemmell Palmerston North 48:26 2 Laurent Vidal France 48:29 3 Ryan Sissons Auckland 48:35 4 Martin Van Barneveld Wellington 48:48 5 Ben Pattle Auckland 49:01 | 
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