There are couples who Netflix and chill. Others who do brunch and bicker over Wordle.
And then there is Katherine and David Fitch. They prefer to cross tri and travel.
The Canterbury couple have built a life around it — from the sea at the bottom of their garden in Diamond Harbour on Banks Peninsular, to the volcanic trails of Rotorua, to the biggest age-group multisport stages on Earth. And now, they’re packing the Team NZL kit bags once more — heading to their fourth World Triathlon Championships, this time in Pontevedra, Spain, in June.
Their new cross triathlon obsession (with a Pontevedra asterisk for David) started because they wanted to hang with the cool kids.
“When we went to Penticton, we saw all the cross triathletes and thought they were the cool people,” Katherine says, laughing. “That’s what made us sort of want to start swimming anyway, so we could do Xterra.”
It was their second Worlds — Penticton, Canada, back in 2017 — and they were both still firmly in the duathlon camp. But watching the grit, gear and mud-slick swagger of the cross triathletes sparked something.
Only one problem. Swimming.
“We always wanted to do the cross triathlon, so we sort of put quite a bit more effort in the last five years into learning to swim,” says Katherine.
They had no excuse.
“We live in Diamond Harbour [on Banks Peninsular] so we’ve got the sea right at the bottom of the garden, and some good trails to run around with very big hills.”
So, swim they did. Trail they trained. And cross triathlon became more than a curiosity — it became the new normal.
Five Times the XTERRA Charm
On April 5, Katherine and David laced up and rolled out for their fifth consecutive XTERRA Rotorua Festival. What started out 15 years ago as a duathlon dabble has become a full-blown annual pilgrimage — with medals, near-misses, and some friendly family bragging rights along the way.
David finished 5th in the men’s 50-54 age group this year — just a month after turning 50 — adding another highlight to a stacked Rotorua résumé that includes two podiums and four top fives since 2019.
Katherine, meanwhile, grabbed 3rd in the women’s 50-54 — her third Rotorua medal in the past three years. And if you’re counting, that puts her medal tally at six to David’s five since records were kept on the Xterra website. Not that anyone’s counting (except TFS absolutely are!).
“I think it’s the best mountain bike course,” Katherine says. “Like it’s a really full-on, best. The mountain bike particularly is amazing and there’s just not many cross triathlons in New Zealand anymore. It’s really disappointing. The one we did in Glendhu Bay [Lake Wanaka] last year was amazing.”
Parallel Paths, One Epic Itinerary
From Wellington to Garda, Adelaide to Townsville, the Fitch’s have — quite literally — gone the distance.
In fact, their race records are almost mirror images of each other. They’ve both raced at Adelaide 2015, Penticton 2017, Rotorua five times apiece, and picked up a pair of Xterra Wellington titles each. In 2023, Katherine snagged a bronze medal at Xterra Lake Garda. The following year, David responded with bronze at the World Triathlon Cross Duathlon Championships in Townsville.
Townsville was the one time they broke rank — Katherine took on the cross triathlon, David the duathlon.
But now they’re syncing up again for Pontevedra — Katherine back on the Cross Triathlon start line, and David going for another crack at Cross Duathlon, with the potential for a Sprint Duathlon start too.
It’s a lifestyle more than a sport at this point — one fuelled by trails, travel, and the Team NZL buzz they say is second to none.
“The team atmosphere is amazing,” says Katherine. “When you go over there, you meet amazing people from other countries but our New Zealand team, I think, has to be the most popular because it just has the best camaraderie and just some very cool people who are really supportive of each other.”
And apparently, there’s a bit of global All Black love thrown in too.
“When you go overseas, Kiwis do get recognised a lot. You know, people are very supportive of Kiwis. I’ve had quite a few ‘Go All Blacks’ when we’ve been doing Xterra in Italy. Yeah, it’s just an amazing sport, really.”
Spain, Speed, and Shared Goals
Pontevedra marks yet another chapter in a love story that’s part endurance epic, part adventure travel, part long-running medal race.
Their favourite place? The next one. Their best race? The one they haven’t done yet. Their plan? Swim more, bike harder, run together, and never stop exploring.
Because while the medals are nice, and the mountain bike trails even better — it’s the shared story that really fuels the fire.
The Fitch’s don’t (only) Netflix and chill. They travel and tri.
