O'Grady leads off the bike

Graham O’Grady continues to lead the Port of Tauranga Half, extending his lead in the swim to one minute and twenty seconds as the athletes headed out on their 21km run, two laps around the base of The Mount. Chasing O’Grady are James Bowstead, Callum Millward and Terenzo Bozzone, with Bozzone losing vital seconds coming into transition when one of his bike shoes came loose, forcing him to turn back and run an extra 30 metres to collect it before heading away on the run.

Cameron Brown was next through with Bruce Hunter, four minutes behind and with plenty of work to do on the run if the ten time NZ Ironman champion is to post the same number of victories at the Port of Tauranga Half today.

In the women’s race Gina Crawford extended her lead on the bike to an impressive 2 minutes and 39 seconds over Jo Lawn as they headed out on to the 21km run.