Saturday (Standard distance) and Sunday (Sprint distance) provided the final qualification races for Great Britain Age-Group athletes to secure automatic qualification for the ITU Triathlon World Championships in Cozumel.
The weekend’s qualification action kicked off in Rutland Water and the ever-popular Dambuster Triathlon hosted by Pacesetter Events. The front end of the men’s overall race proved to be a very closely contested affair, with the top three athletes separated by just 31 seconds.
Coming away with the overall win was William Cowen (Jackpot Racing), just 16 seconds clear of David Bartlett (Cycleogic.co.uk). Separated by just two seconds in the swim, David gained around 30 seconds over the rolling bike course, before William managed to reverse the positions with a 34:41 run split, which was the fourth fastest of the day. Third overall was Ashley Hurdman (Huub TFN RT) who overcame a two-minute swim deficit with an exceptional bike performance and strong run, to finish just 15 seconds slower than David. All three won their respective categories.
Claire Hann (Bikescience) proved to be the class of the women’s field. Starting with the fastest swim time of the day, she ended with the fastest run too – and came very close to making it a clean sweep on the bike. Only Emma Deary, (Stortford Tri), who took second overall was able to go just a few seconds quicker on two wheels than the impressive winner. Becky Schofield (Physio Resolutions) completed the podium with a strong performance across all three disciplines. As with the men, all three also won their respective age-group races in the process.
Sunday’s qualifier saw a change of country, distance and format as the Ffit Conway Triathlon hosted the final, draft-legal Sprint distance Cozumel qualifier in North Wales, courtesy of Xtra Mile Events.
She may be approaching her half-century in terms of years, but Jacqui Phillips (TRIKS) was able to show the youngsters a clean pair of heels on the way to taking the win and first place in the 45-49 category. A long-time member of the Great Britain team, Jacqui will be hoping to add Gold in Cozumel to a C.V., which already counts European and World Championship medals into double figures over Triathlon, Duathlon and Aquathlon events.
For the men, it was a youngster, Benjamin Baugh (Linc Squad) who won the 15-19 category and overall hounours by almost one minute from Grant Bateman (Hillingdon Triathletes). James Hodgson completed the podium, with all three athletes taking first place in their respective age-groups.
Dambuster Triathlon
ITU Qualifier 2016 (Standard Distance)
Saturday 18th June 2016 – 1.5km / 42km / 10km
Men
1st – William Cowen (Jackpot Racing) – 1:58:21
2nd – David Bartlett (Cycleogic.co.uk) – 1:58:37
3rd – Ashley Hurdman (Huub TFN RT) – 1:58:52
Women
1st – Claire Hann (Bikescience) – 2:15:11
2nd – Emma Deary (Stortford Tri) – 2:18:01
3rd – Becky Schofield (Physio Resolutions) – 2:20:48
Full results:
http://www.britishtriathlon.org/news/live_timing_-_dambuster_7088
Registration / Qualification status:
Ffit Conwy Llandudno Sea Triathlon
ITU Qualifier 2016 (Draft-Legal, Sprint Distance)
Sunday 19th June 2016 – 750m / 19km / 5km
Men
1st – Benjamin Baugh (Linc Squad) – 1:02:49
2nd – Grant Bateman (Hillingdon Triathletes) – 1:03:43
3rd – James Hodgson – 1:06:05
Women
1st – Jacqui Phillips (TRIKS) – 1:12:37
2nd – Blythe Fourie (Racepace) – 1:13:19
3rd – Ashia Fenwick (University of Bath) – 1:14:02
Full results:
http://www.britishtriathlon.org/news/live_timing_llandudno_7089
Registration / Qualification status:
