The ITU World Paratriathlon Event at the Vitality World Triathlon London saw some very high calibre racing across the five paratriathlon categories and saw British athletes win two gold, three silver and two bronze medals.
Leading the way with gold for Great Britain were Lauren Steadman and Melissa Reid after completing the 750m swim in the Serpentine, cycling 20km and running 5km at the London 2012 Olympic venue.
ITU World Champion, Steadman, was a convincing winner in the PT4 category ahead of teammate, Clare Cunningham.
Steadman said: “I love this course and it was lovely to win in front of a home crowd. The weather’s dry too, so you can hit the top speeds on the bike.”
Also in the PT4 category George Peasgood continued to impress with silver. Leading out of the swim, it took a strong run from Canadian, Stefan Daniel, to catch him.
He said: “It was really good. I tried to hold on on the run and it paid off. I knew he was going to catch me at some point because he’s a really good runner. I tried to lift up my knees, keep up the tempo and keep the distance as minimal as possible.”
Melissa Reid was part of one of the closest races in the visually impaired category, PT5. With guide, Nicole Walters, Reid played catch up to the Dutch pairing, only taking the lead at the final turn point.
She said: It was really good, just chasing down all the way to the finish.” Walters added: “It was a good race today, definitely exciting. We had a lot of work to do to catch the Dutch pair, we were chasing for the whole race.”
Phil Hogg was happy with bronze in a competitive PT1 men’s race. He said: “You’ve got the world champion here, the guy that won it last year as well, so a really strong field, that’s what we need to be racing against. There’s no point turning up to a race and leading from the front, we need these kind of events.”
Other British medal winners today included Lizzie Tench with silver in the PT1 category, and Iain Dawson in the PT5 category.
GB and selected athletes results, ITU World Paratriathlon Event, 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run:
Women’s PT1
1. Mary Callahan, USA, 1:28:19
2. Lizzie Tench, GBR, 1:33:39
Women’s PT2
1. Saskia Van Den Ouden, NED, 1:31:37
6. Emily Harris, GBR, 1:51:29
Women’s PT4
1. Lauren Steadman, GBR, 1:09:26
2. Clare Cunningham, GBR, 1:14:08
Women’s PT5
1. Melissa Reid, GBR, 1:10:36
2. Joleen Hakker (B1), NED, 1:10:50
Men’s PT1
1. Bill Chaffey, AUS, 1:06:16
2. Geert Schipper, NED, 1:03:24
3. Phil Hogg, GBR, 1:04:18
4. Mark Conway, GBR, 1:07:15
Men’s PT4
1. Stefan Daniel, CAN, 1:00:14
2. George Peasgood, GBR, 1:02:03
7. Peter Bacon, GBR, 1:04:45
12. Sefan Hogan, GBR, 1:06:10
15. Chris Frost, GBR, 1:08:41
Men’s PT5
1. Lukasz Wietecki, POL, 1:05:47
3. Iain Dawson, GBR, 1:09:17
