Jack Moody & Hannah Berry win 2024 Calley Homes Tauranga Half

Today’s Calley Homes Tauranga Half produced two incredible elite races, with Jack Moody winning his first ever men’s title , and Hannah Berry beating a top international women’s field to record her third victory in the iconic multisport event.

The 35th anniversary of the Calley Homes Tauranga Half attracted world class fields to Mount Maunganui, and near perfect race conditions with little wind and good cloud cover.

The elite men’s race produced one of the most dramatic finishes in the storied history of the event with Jack Moody outsprinting Mike Phillips down The Mall at Pilot Bay to win his first title.

Today’s victory is extra special for Jack Moody after being the event’s perennial place-getter for the past five years. He finished second in 2022, 2020 & 2019 and third in 2023 & 2021, but was on top of the podium today after a blistering run leg.

An emotional Jack Moody said after the victory - “I have wanted to win this event for so long. There were moments on the run today when I wondered if I was forever going to be the event’s bridesmaid, so am stoked to finally win.”

Moody has worked incredibly hard on his weakest triathlon discipline – the swim, in recent times. He came of the water at Pilot Bay in fifth place, just behind Mike Phillips, and two minutes down on Javier Gomez of Spain.

While a late entry to today’s event, legendary triathlete Gomez looked in outstanding form after the swim leg. However, problems with the handlebars on his bike, put paid to Gomez’s chances of adding the Calley Homes Tauranga Half to his illustrious career of triathlon wins.

It was current NZ Ironman champion, Mike Phillips from Christchurch who dominated today’s bike leg to open up a three and a half minute margin heading into the run leg.

Auckland’s Jack Moody was incredibly quick on first lap of the run, cutting the deficit to 50 seconds as they rounded the half-way marker.

Phillips showed his wonderful strength to hold off Moody for most of the second lap. However, as they came off Mount Maunganui’s base track for the second and final time, Moody took the lead and sprinted down The Mall to record an epic eleven second victory.

Moody paid tribute to Mike Phillips at the end of the race saying – “he was incredibly strong though out today’s run, and it was difficult to pull back that deficit.”

The Calley Homes Tauranga Half elite women’s race provided an equally impressive performance from local multisport legend - Hannah Berry.

Berry is a two time winner of the event, taking the 2019 & 2020 titles. She had to be at very best today to beat a world class field which included Ironman World Champion – Chelsea Sodaro from the US, current NZ Ironman champ Els Visser from the Netherlands, and two time defending champion – Rebecca Clarke from Auckland.

An outstanding swimmer, Clarke was first out of the water, swimming the 2k swim leg in 23:43. Berry was right behind her, with Chelsea Sodaro trailling by 1:40, and Visser another two minutes further back.

The kiwi duo of Berry and Clarke shadowed each other throughout the bike leg, while Els Visser moved into third place after recording the best women’s bike leg of the day.

After a great transition, Hannah Berry led out the run leg, followed by Clarke, Visser and Sodaro, who trailled by 6:42 at the start of this final leg.

A world class runner, Sodaro reduced the deficit to four minutes at the half-way stage of the run and moved into second place early in the second lap.

Hannah Berry was conscious of the running ability of Sodaro saying – “I knew that Chelsea was going to chase me down on the run leg, so I pushed really hard on the bike. I looked across at her a couple of times during the run and she looked amazing. I just stuck my head down and focused on my own form.”

Berry was jubilant with the victory saying – “this is a best place to race, on my home course. To hear people yelling ‘Go Hannah’ throughout the race was amazing.”

“It is wonderful to have world class athletes here, and a privilege to win today’s event.”

The Calley Homes Tauranga Half was the headline event for the Fulton Hogan Mount Festival of Multisport which also featured the Pilot Bay Swim over 800m, 2km & 3.8k distances, an Aquabike event, and the Pressio Mount Festival Half Marathon which was held over 5km, 10km and half marathon distances.

The highly accomplished Jacob Priddley won the Pressio men’s Half Marathon in 1:09:54, and Amelia Lythe won the women’s half marathon in the incredible time of 1:11:22. Another decorated athlete who took part in the half marathon today was 87 year old multisport legend Garth Barfoot.

Results for all events are below.

Website: www.mountfestival.kiwi

Calley Tauranga Half Results – Saturday, 20 January 2024

Distance 2km Swim 90km Bike 21.1km Run

Elite Men’s

1. Jack Moody (Auckland) 3:33:33

2. Mike Phillips (Christchurch) 3:33:44

3. Ben Hamilton 3:39:40

4. Scott Harpham 3:40:33

5. Simon Cochrane (Auckland) 3:42:24

Elite Women’s

1. Hannah Berry (Tauranga) 3:58:48

2. Chelsea Sodaro (US) 3:59:43

3. Els Visser (Netherlands) 4:03:22

4. Rebecca Clarke (Auckland) 4:07:41

5. Deb Fuller 4:13:53

Aquabike Results

Distance 2km Swim 90km Bike

Overall Men’s

1. Jamie Campbell 2:24:51

2. Karl Poole 2:32:57

3. Michael Glynn 2:34:21

Overall Women’s

1. Georgina Perry 2:44:48

2. Amanda Woodd 2:56:21

3. Cat Conlan 2:57:35

Pressio Mount Festival Half Marathon – Results

Overall Men’s – 5km

1. Etienne Shamley 20:52

2. Kristian Buccus 20:52

3. Lachie Veal 21:10

Overall Women’s – 5km

1. Anna Hickey 21:23

2. Alaina Smith 21:54

3. Sienna Rowe 22:40

Overall Men’s – 10km

1. Wynton Richards 37:08

2. Lane Madsen 37:50

3. Travis Ovalsen 42:34

Overall Women’s – 10km

1. Sophie Harries 50:19

2. Nicole Farmer 50:48

3. Chloe McCurran 50:58

Overall Men’s – 21.1km Half Marathon

1. Jacob Priddley 1:09:54

2. Daniel Hallam 1:12:13

3. Jake Wilkinson 1:15:48

Overall Women’s – 21.1km Half Marathon

1. Jemma Guitink 1:11:22

2. Jasmine Finney 1:30:25

3. Caitlin Bradley 1:32:39

Pilot Bay Swim – Results

Overall Men’s – 800m

1. Kiani Woodward 11:44

2. Ashton Guitry 11:53

3. Luca Dohnt 13:21

Overall Women’s – 800m

1. Tara Lowe 13:29

2. Bailee More 15:52

3. Jamie Barbuco 15:59

Overall Men’s – 2k

1. Tom Green 25:20

2. Nick Jeffrey 26:54

3. Sam McHale 28:39

Overall Women’s – 2k

1. Sally Green 31:57

2. Sina Kamps 32:55

3. Coral Lambeth 35:20

Overall Men’s – 3.8k

1. Quinn Boyle 43:47

2. Jack Revill 44:23

3. Brady Cambell 48:12

Overall Women’s – 3.8k

1. Eva Goodisson 43:51

2. Alice Adams 44:06

3. Marina Nadilo 48:33

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