The Great Britain Age-Group Team set the standard for championships to come last weekend, after amassing a 12-strong medal tally in Horst at the ETU Powerman Long Distance Duathlon European Championships.
A total of 63 duathletes, including two elite competitors, adorned the Union Jack in the Netherlands on Sunday to take on the rest of Europe in the early season Championships.
The sun was shining as they took on the challenge of a 60km bike, sandwiched between two 10km runs, to bring home 5 Gold, 3 Silver and 4 Bronze medals.
One of the Britons topping the podium was Richard Anderson (M25-29), crossing the line as the second fastest age-grouper of the day in 2:36:49. Double World and European Age-Group Duathlon Champion Alan Murchison returned to take the M40-44 win whilst Rosie Davies was the fastest of the British Age-Group women, winning the W25-29 title in 3:06:55.
Before any age-group activity got underway however, it was up to the Elite athletes to open proceedings in Horst. Vicky Gill performed excellently, narrowly missing out on a podium spot. Having sat in third position for much of the race, she was overtaken with 1km to go.
Julian Lings managed a positive 13th place in a high-class field including three ITU World Champions. He commented “It was a great race with a really high quality field competing. With World Champions and a handful of past European Champions all taking part, I’m very pleased with how the race went. With only 6 minutes separating the top 15 athletes in the elite field, it was a matter of pushing it right to the finish line.
“The run was very quick but the bike was what separated the best from the rest. Riding in one of the heartlands of European cycling, it was fitting that some truly outstanding time trialling was on show. Given the profile of the course, I knew that this would be a tougher race for me than the World Championships in Switzerland; however, I'm encouraged by how I performed. I'm now looking forward to continuing to work on my TT skills and close the gap on the top guys in the elite field.
“Congratulations to all the GB age groupers who took part. Powerman is a tough event and for many, this was their first time at this distance.”
Great Britain Age-Group Team medallists:
GOLD
Kurt Sanders (M20-24)
Richard Anderson (M25-29)
Rosie Davies (W25-29)
Paul Hart (M35-39)
Alan Murchison (M40-44)
SILVER
Stephanie Knott (W25-29)
Fran Bungay (W40-44)
Mick Anglim (M65-69)
BRONZE
Chris Roxburgh (M30-34)
Marie Meldrum (W40-44)
Benvenuto Baldelli (M45-49)
Annette Edwards (W50-54)
Full results can be found here.
Great Britain Age-Group Team Manager, Barron Mendelssohn, will be offering his thoughts on the race in an upcoming news item.
