Papamoa athlete Sam Durrant has backed up his third place finish at the NZ Triathlon Champs with a silver medal at the National Aquathlon Champs.

The event, in Nelson at the weekend, made for a long day for Sam, with him flying to the South Island early for a midday start.

Mount Maunganui head boy, triathlete Sam Durrant, runs in for a race transition in Nelson.

The race was a 2.5km run followed by a 1km swim finishing with another 2.5km run.

The runs were around central Nelson and the swim was in the Maitai River, which flows through the city.

Sam had a great first run coming into the run/swim transition in fifth overall, keeping up with the elite entrants, some of whom were overseas Olympic contenders.

Sam had a good swim and came out in the top 10.

The swim leg of the National Aquathlon Champs was up the Maitai River in central Nelson.

Yet again Sam's transitions were quick with him gaining places.

The second run was at a fast pace and Sam managed to consolidate his position keeping up with the elite athletes.

Sam and overseas based Nelson athlete Joe Thornton were neck and neck for most of the race with them having a sprint towards the finish line at the end.

Joe was quicker to the line with Sam narrowly missing out on the gold in the under-19 age group by seconds only.

Sam finished ninth overall, which was behind the overseas elite competitors and New Zealand national ranked adults.

This performance gained him selection for the NZ Aquathlon Team for the World Champs being held in Auckland in October.

Sam was ecstatic with the podium finish.

'Although I just missed out on gold in my age group, I'm really happy with getting silver and how close I was to Joe Thornton, who won.

'And I made the NZ Team for Aquathlon, which is another great achievement for me.”