Alongside the Oceania Cup, the Oceania Junior Championships took place in Taupo, New Zealand.
In the women’s race, Hannah Prosser put together a consummate performance to take the win. She recorded a solid 10:02 in the swim to remain within range of the leaders and then added a strong showing on the bike to assert herself towards the front into T2.
It was her run, though, that truly separated her.
Prosser produced a time of 18:52 to take the win. For context, Gwen Jorgensen ran 18:31 and Nicole Van Der Kaay ran 18:05 on the same course. Prosser’s running should not be too great a surprise. She has earned a scholarship to Boston University in the USA to run cross country.
As such, she will treading a path similar to that of WTCS medallist Lisa Tertsch. Tertsch, for reference, attended Harvard University.
Prosser’s win earned her qualification for the World Junior Championships in Hamburg. She will definitely be an athlete to keep an eye on at the event.
Taking silver was Rhianna Hepburn. The young Australian was slightly ahead of Prosser out of the water but it was on the bike that she really excelled as she produced a 33:20 split to drive the lead pack forward.
In the end, though, she did not have the run to match Prosser but produced a strong effort to take silver. Her Australian team mate, Gabriella Jackson, took bronze.
The men’s race saw an Australian 1-2-3.
Bradley Course won the race on the back of a classy all-round display. He raced at the Senior level in Wanaka last week and displayed his strength on the bike as he recorded the fastest split that day. In the end, he finished 5th in Wanaka which represented a brilliant performance for a young athlete.
Having mixed it with the Senior men a week prior, Course looked accomplished among the Junior field. He was smooth on the bike without having to push quite as much as last week.
That enabled Course to unleash a 16:47 run to cruise to victory.
As with Prosser, Course’s performance qualified him for Hamburg in July. After his compatriot Toby Powers won silver at the World Junior Championships last year, Course will no doubt be hoping for the same or better.
Thomas Feldmann and Jack Crome, respectively, took silver and bronze in Taupo.
