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Paul McNamara

Hong Kong claimed mixed relay gold at the Asia Triathlon Cup in Japan on Sunday, but were still told they had room for improvement before this year’s National Games.
Bailee Brown, Oscar Coggins, Hilda Choi Yan-yin and Robin Elg combined to finish in one hour, 27 minutes and 17 seconds in Gamagori, three seconds ahead of runners-up New Zealand. Third-placed China were way back in 1:30.34.
However, head coach Andrew Wright’s message to his victorious quartet was that they could do better still if they could stamp out some mistakes in time for the Games in November.
Wright felt that Hong Kong’s performance “exposed a few skill-based errors, mainly on the transitions”.

“We need to tidy those up before the National Games,” he said. “Throwing away vital seconds can turn into massive gaps, and let other teams back into the race.
“Months of training and fitness gains can essentially be cancelled with those small errors.”
Brown completed the opening leg in 22 minutes and 59 seconds, handing over to Coggins alongside their rivals from New Zealand and China. The mainlanders were then cut adrift during the second leg as Coggins dashed around the course in 20:12, but Hong Kong were nine seconds down on the New Zealanders following Choi’s 23:44 effort.
Elg, fourth in Saturday’s men’s individual race, delivered a 20:22 closing leg to pass the final New Zealand athlete.
Victory in Gamagori represented the latest staging post for the city’s athletes in the lead-up to the National Games in November.
This weekend also offered an opportunity to gauge the challenge ahead at next year’s Asian Games, because Gamagori’s triathlon course is the one that will be used for those Games in Nagoya.
Coach Wright was nonetheless urging caution in his analysis of Sunday’s success.
“I was pleased with the win, but it’s not that significant – the field lacked calibre,” Wright said.
Wright’s squad have targeted a podium finish in the relay at November’s Games, in which the triathlon events will be held in Hong Kong at Central Harbourfront.
Cade Wright and Wong Tsz-to, who were part of a silver medal-winning Hong Kong quartet at June’s China Championships, will also be in the mix for National Games selection, but the foursome in Japan used the weekend to trial their recovery processes between Saturday’s individual races and the relay on Sunday.

They were accompanied there by their National Games bike mechanic and physiotherapist, while each athlete’s Saturday was meticulously mapped out.
Each of them had to manage to take the correct nutrition while cooling down from their solo race, before trying to sleep during the day despite a large caffeine intake earlier. Full body checks were followed by a training session, dinner and tactical discussion, before sleep and a morning warm-up.
“Our protocols were all on point,” Andrew Wright said. “It was a good confidence boost and valuable to get the feeling of backing up a hard individual race with a relay.”


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(From left) Oscar Coggins, Hilda Choi, Bailee Brown and Robin Elg speak after the race. Photo: TAHKC

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Sport

Hong Kong

City’s team pip New Zealanders to claim victory in Japan, but their coach issues National Games warning


City’s team pip New Zealanders to claim victory in Japan, but their coach issues National Games warning.


Hong Kong beat China and New Zealand to take Asia Triathlon Cup gold

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}City’s team pip New Zealanders to claim victory in Japan, but their coach issues National Games warning

City’s team pip New Zealanders to claim victory in Japan, but their coach issues National Games warning