Waitaki Boys’ High School student Henry Ward won the under-16 duathlon race at the New Zealand Schools duathlon champs and age-group sprint duathlon champs in Invercargill earlier this month.
The 16-year-old said his win "hasn’t properly sunk in yet".
It was a tight race the entire way and it took him until the final 600m before he took first place.
"It was a really close race. I crossed the line and it was all a blur and so I picked up the finish tape and held it above my head.
"I was just so happy and excited."
The race was held in tough conditions as it hailed before the start and the wind was blowing a gale, he said.
Ward also competed at the New Zealand secondary schools triathlon championships earlier this year.
Triathlon was his main sport and he picked up duathlon during winter "when the water is a bit too cold to swim".
He was running six times a week and biking five times a week to go along with a gym session and a swim as part of his training.
"Yeah, it’s pretty busy."
As if that is not enough, he is also part of Waitaki Boys’ First XI hockey team, which won the Coaches Cup last month.
Ward backed up his efforts in Invercargill by finishing fifth in the 10km race at the Dunedin Marathon last weekend.
He will return to the triathlon national championships in March next year and his results in the duathlon event earned him qualification to the world championships in Abu Dhabi.
In the meantime, he has two weeks off now before picking back up later in the month.
"It’ll ramp up lots over the summer and [I’ll} have three months of really solid training over summer to lead in to nationals."
