Saturday’s Loan Market Oceanside Tauranga Half produced two outstanding elite races, with Jack Moody, and Hannah Berry defending their men’s and women’s titles in emphatic fashion.

The 36th running of the race drew outstanding elite fields, who competed in sunny conditions at Mount Maunganui.

The event also doubled as the NZ Middle Distance Triathlon Champs, giving the wins by Moody and Berry special significance.

The Loan Market Oceanside Tauranga Half elite women’s race produced an emphatic victory for local multisport legend - Hannah Berry.

Berry dominated the women’s field to take her fourth title in the iconic event, following wins in 2019, 2020 and 2023.

She virtually led from start to finish, after being the second woman out of the water, five seconds behind accomplished UK triathlete – Fenella Langridge.

Berry then produced strong bike and run legs to win the race by almost eight minutes from much improved NZ triathlete Samantha Kingsford.

Berry was very appreciative of the support that she received throughout Saturday’s race.

“I love this event and this community. There were so many people along the course that I know, who were yelling my name. I really enjoyed the support and the event,” Berry said.

The cry of “Go Hannah” was a prominent one on Mount Maunganui’s café-lined streets. The strong crowds witnessed Berry in sublime form, to start a big year in the sport for her in 2025.

In second place, Samantha Kingsford produced the best half marathon in the women’s field. She ran 1:25:01 for the 21.1k run to overtake both Hannah Knighton and UK triathlete Fenella Langridge. It was the first podium in a 70.3 event for Kingsford, with Knighton finishing third and Langridge fourth.

Jack Moody defends his title in the 2025 Loan Market Oceanside Tauranga Half with a race record. Photo/Hamish Collie.

The elite men’s race was a repeat of last year’s quinella, with Auckland’s Jack Moody again beating top Christchurch triathlete Mike Phillips. However, there was a difference in this year’s race approach from Moody who footed it with Phillips on the swim and bike, as opposed to running him down on the final leg.

Moody was third out of the water, only eleven seconds adrift of Lachlan Haycock. Phillips was one place further back after the Pilot Bay swim, allowing the two rivals to start the bike leg together. While the lead changed from time to time, Moody basically went wheel to wheel with Phillips throughout the 90k bike leg.

Moody still had plenty of running in him after the quick bike leg, completing the half marathon in an impressive 1:10:32 to win Saturday’s event in race record time, eclipsing the previous mark set by Braden Currie in 2023.

Jack Moody was jubilant after the victory.

“It’s been a pretty special day. This is my eighth consecutive year at this event. It took me seven attempts to finally win it, so to defend the title this year is special. The Loan Market Oceanside Tauranga Half is one of the iconic events on the NZ triathlon calendar which means so much to win, so I certainly appreciate this second title.”

Bettering the race record by fourteen seconds was the icing on the cake for Jack Moody.

“My coach mentioned out on the course that we might be on for a race record, so we basically said – ‘let’s go for it’.”

Moody’s improvement over the past year in the swim and bike disciplines was highly evident. One of the top cyclists in the sport, Mike Phillips paid tribute to the improved biking skills of Moody.

“The time that we both did on the bike today was as fast as anyone has gone on this course,” Phillips said.

Phillips was pleased to be competitive throughout the day’s event, and complimentary of the performance of Jack Moody saying “he was simply too strong today”.

The Loan Market Oceanside Tauranga Half was the headline event for the Fulton Hogan Mount Festival of Multisport which also featured an Aquabike event, and the Waitoa Half Marathon which was held over 5km, 10km and 21.1k distances. Korban Bastiaanse won the Waitoa men’s Half Marathon in 1:14:16, while Jasmine Finney won the women’s half marathon in 1:23:28

Loan Market Oceanside Tauranga Half Results – Saturday, January 18 2025

Distance 2km Swim 90km Bike 21.1km Run

Elite Men’s

1. Jack Moody 3:37:33

2. Mike Phillips 3:44:53

3. Scott Harpham 3:49:09

4. Tom Somerville 3:54:49

5. Lachlan Haycock 3:55:31

Elite Women’s

1. Hannah Berry 4:08:30

2. Samantha Kingsford 4:16:20

3. Hannah Knighton 4:19:03

4. Fenella Langridge 4:22:41

5. Fiona Gallagher 4:25:04

Aquabike Results

Distance 2km Swim 90km Bike

Overall Men’s

1. Jamie Campbell 2:33.31

2. Andrej Fuscic 2:34:07

3. Karl Poole 2:34:20

Overall Women’s

1. Matilda Lawrence 2:57:56

2. Natalie Mitchell 3:01:33

3. Hayley Gallagher 3:04:21

Waitoa Mount Festival Half Marathon – Results

Overall Men’s – 21.1km Half Marathon

1. Korban Bastiaanse 1:14:16

2. Lane Madsen 1:14:17

3. Joshua Madsen 1:17:52

Overall Women’s – 21.1km Half Marathon

1. Jasmine Finney 1:23:38

2. Clara Fergus 1:25:58

3. Hannah Conrathe 1:29:02

Overall Men’s – 10.5km

1. Reece Billington 38:07

2. Samuel Riddell 39:13

3. Liam Fort 40:54

Overall Women’s – 10.5km

1. Desirae Ridenour 38:01

2. Esme McClennan 46:44

3. Amber Dickason 47:09

Overall Men’s – 5km

1. William Kelsey 17:51

2. Guillaume Pottier 17:54

Overall Women’s – 5km

1. Kate Faitl 19:12

2. Charlotte Carpenter 20:24

3. Isla Spalding 21:14