Couple goals: Reid top seed for World Cup Samarkand as van der Kaay eyes 70.3 debut near Shanghai

👩‍❤️‍👨 Olympic power couple Tayler Reid and Nicole van der Kaay will be doing the long-distance thing this weekend, racing a day and nearly 5000km apart in Uzbekistan and China respectively.

Reid was happy enough with his course best 18th at last weekend’s WTCS Yokohama but you know the Gisborne scrapper will want more in Saturday’s step down to World Cup level in Samarkand.

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📺 World Cup Samarkand 
Saturday, May 24
9:15pm NZT 
Triathlonlive.tv
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The 28-year-old is ranked No.1 in what is also a stepping stone race to next weekend’s new WTCS stop in Alghero, Italy, but won’t have it easy at the standard distance event.

A big threat will be Reese Vannerson, the world No.39 who won World Cup Chengdu in a sprint finish after back-to-back Americas Triathlon Cup wins in La Paz (Mexico) and Miami. That all after Vannerson’s 5th at World Cup Napier.

Also on the start list for Samarka and is second ranked Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger. While the World No.28 DNF’d at World Cup Chengdu after the swim, he has form after winning the Supertri E World Triathlon Championships in London in early April. The Frenchman also won World Cup Miyazaki last November. 

Ironman 70.3 Shangai – NVDK ‘excited and a little bit nervous’
Van der kaay will make her much anticipated Ironman 70.3 in Shanghi and will be happy if Sunday’s result is anywhere near as impressive as Reid’s 70.3 bow in Geelong in late March when he ran with blistered and bloodied feet to 3rd and a place in November’s 70.3 Worlds in Marbella.

That doesn’t look beyond the realms with NVDK in a pro women’s field of five; fellow Kiwi Brett Clifford is ranked 6th in a men’s start-list of 12. 

Van der Kaay warmed up with second place at last weekend’s Yangtze River Delta International Triathlon, sandwiched between Switzerland’s Julie Derron and ahead of the Paris Olympics silver medallist’s sister Nina on a star-studded podium. It was a result worth a cool ¥55,000 (NZ$12,870). 

“Made a last-minute call to head over early and sneak in a race on the TT before the big one!” said van der Kaay who is up to No.19 in the World Triathlon rankings following three successive Oceania medals to open 2025, the last two gold at the continental sprint and super sprint championships. 

“I’m feeling excited and a little bit nervous, in a good way. It’s a big step into the unknown with this being my first Ironman 70.3, but I’m ready to embrace the challenge. There’s been a lot of trial and error, especially with nutrition and pacing, but I’ve got a great team around me and we’ve made it work.

“The biggest difference has been in mindset and pacing. Olympic [standard] distance is all about intensity and precision, while the 70.3 demands patience and control. I’ve had to teach myself to hold back a little more early on and think long-term, especially on the bike and with nutrition. It’s a different kind of grind, but I’ve loved the change.”

While Julie Derron is off to the T100 circuit, sister Nina, pictured above running to third at Ironman NZ in March, will go into Sunday as a firm favourite. It helps that the sisters have spent much of the year training with the Chinese HP squad at this weekend’s race venue, Chongming Island, which is actually 90 odd minutes northeast of Shanghai. 

The 90km ride will be familiar to cycling fans as it weaves its way along the tree-lined Beiyan Highway which is part of the route for the Tour of Chongming Island, this October the penultimate leg of the UCI Women’s World Tour. 

Europe Triathlon Cup Olsztyn
🇵🇱 The annual northern hemisphere migration of New Zealand’s finest young triathletes is in full flight with a pair of U23 men already in Poland for their first European Conti Cup of 2025.

A knee niggle saw Henry McMecking bypass the recent Oceania Super Sprint Championships on the Gold Coast as a precaution so it will be fascinating to see how the Cantabrian shows up in Olsztyn. He’s ranked 3rd behind Switerland’s Maxime Fluri and Frenchman Antonie Duval.

Don’t be surprised to see Manawatu’s Sam Parry, 11th at the Oceania Super Sprint at Runaway Bay, exceed his ranking of 20th in a huge field of 71. The men’s race is off at 4:15pm local time Saturday, which is 2:15am Sunday NZ time. 

Asia Triathlon Cup Osaka Castle 
🇯🇵 Auckland’s Charlotte Brown and Manawatu’s Hayley Cornwall have jetted into Japan to bolster New Zealand’s stocks on the Asia Triathlon circuit.

They’ll join Amara Rae on the Osaka Castle start line at 11:15am NZ time Sunday after Rae produced a Continental Cup best of 7th at Asia Triathlon Cup Lianyungang in China last weekend.

Rae, Brown and Cornwall are ranked 16th, 17th and 20th respectively. The men’s race in Japan from 1:15pm NZ time will feature Joel Lange, Robbie White and Will Taylor who were 10th, 25th and 36th respectively in Lianyungang. Like Rae, Lange’s effort was a Conti Cup best and saw his world ranking leapfrog 63 places to 267th. 

“Really great result out here,” the Sydney-based Kiwi said of Lianyungang, before adding vital intel on White and Taylor’s performances in China too. 

“The swim was nice and controlled the whole way round. Was second to the first buoy and stayed top 10 the whole 1500. The bike course was the best course across any triathlon I’ve done. Four x 10km loops with no dead turns and two climbs per lap…just an awesome course.

“I made front pack and rolled round for about two laps before the chasers eventually caught us leading to a huge group. Will Taylor made the group and unfortunately Robbie was caught behind a crash early out after having a brilliant swim too.

Coming into T2 just felt super relaxed and started the run feeling amazing. Some blisters around 4/5km in led to me falling back a few places but overall a brilliant result to come away with.”