News

Home Nation Membership

Are you covered?

Insurance is just one of many Home Nation Membership benefits, but means you can train and race with confidence all year round!

Sharp performance at Blenheim

Published:

Matt Sharp took an early lead in the men's 2014 British Triathlon Super Series rankings by winning the opening race, the Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research Blenheim Palace Triathlon, in glorious conditions.

More than 160 Elite athletes raced in the stunning grounds of Blenheim Palace in the second largest triathlon in the UK, and more than 7,000 competitors took part across the weekend. 

Matt Sharp was in touch with the leaders as he got out of the water, with Richard Stannard, third at Blenheim last year, leading, and Sharp stayed comfortably in contention on the bike leg. A smooth second transition set Sharp up for a run leg of 17min 13sec, 25 seconds faster than the next fastest runner, Mark Buckingham, and an ultimately clear win in 58min 43sec over the 750m swim, 19.8km bike, 5.7km run course. Buckingham finished second in 59:09 with David Bishop third in 1:00:07.
 
Sharp said; “To be honest I wasn’t having the best day. I gave it everything I had on the swim and tried to break away quite a few times on the bike but the group was pretty big. Then on the run, I just tried to go hard and maintain it all the way to the finish.
 
“I really needed that confidence boost today and I’m absolutely chuffed with my result. I’ve got the Europeans [the 2014 Kitzbühel ETU Triathlon European Championships] in two weeks and it’s a really hard, hilly course so it should suit me and I’m looking for a really good result there.” 
 
Buckingham said: "It was a very strong run from Sharpy today. Sprints are fast and furious and it was definitely that. We raced against each other in London last week and he was slightly better than me on the run there so it went to the form book I guess.
 
“Being on the podium is brilliant because when you’re part of the Super Series it’s tough to make those podiums. I’ve been 4th, 3rd and now 2nd at Blenheim so if I keep the progress going, hopefully next year I’ll be on top! I love racing here so I’ll definitely be back next year."
 
Bishop is looking forward to the next leg of the Super Series, at Windsor next weekend. He said: “I had great fun today. I went out hard but Sharpe was just too good, he’s a really strong athlete. I haven’t done this event for the past couple of years and so it was really brilliant to be back. I’m aiming to do the Windsor Triathlon and so today has been great preparation for me.”
 
In the women's Super Series race, Emma Pallant went one better than last year's second place to win and set the early pace in the standings as she bids to defend the title she won last year. Pallant finished in 1:06:49, well clear of Kate Roberts in 1:07:33. Pallant, a former international cross-country runner and 1500m bronze medalist at the IAAF World Junior Championships, had stayed well in touch through the swim and bike legs but made her athletics experience count with a scorching run of 19:52, more than a minute faster than the next fastest woman, Roberts in 20:53.
 
Pallant said “I was so chuffed with today, mainly because the swim was good. I think the venue here, and especially the crowds, are fantastic and definitely help towards getting good times. It’s also nice to have the scenery, it really feels like you’re out and about in a park - I even love the uphill run out of swim. The win here will definitely give me a boost for the rest of the season, you can’t beat a race like this for getting a great experience.”
 
Roberts said: “The swim was really rough and so I just tried to keep my head above water. It was also a challenging bike leg, making sure I was staying in the front pack and focusing on the race and trying to hold my own pace, but I’m really happy with my result.”
 
Sophie Coldwell, last year's women's British Triathlon Junior Super Series champion, put in a superb performance to win the women's Junior Super Series, over the same course of 750m swim, 19.8km bike, 5.7km run as the seniors, in 1:07:44, a time that was good enough to place her third in the women's senior Super Series race, too. Sarah Hodgson came second in the Juniors in 1:08:22 and last year's women's Youth Super Series champion, Bronwen Owen, fresh from an excellent fourth place in the Junior race at the 2014 Pontevedra ITU Duathlon World Championships last weekend, came third in 1:08:46.
 
Luke Penney is becoming something of a course specialist after he made it two Blenheim titles in two years by winning the Junior men's Super Series race in 1:00:55, ahead of Alex West (1:01:09) and James Teagle (1:01:44). It was, though, a disappointing day for the series leader going into the race as Christopher Perham, who won the previous round, the aquathlon at the 2014 Pruhealth World Triathlon London, finished 17th.
 
In the men's Youth Super Series, over a 400m swim/13.2km bike/3.1km run, Alex Chantler-Mayne (39:17) kept up his 100% record for the races he has started this year with victory. Chantler-Mayne won the Aquathlon at London but missed the series' opening round, the 2014 British Elite Duathlon Championships at Rockingham in March. Ben Dijkstra, who won that opening round at Rockingham, was second in 39:37, while Tyler Hutchinson finished third in 40:59.
 
The women's Youth Super Series rankings leader, Kate Waugh (43:19), kept up her excellent form, and her series 100% record for 2014, with victory over Emma Clapton (43:42), who is second in the standings. Sophie Alden came third in 43:57. 
 
 

Thanks to our Partners

Join Us

And enjoy insurance benefits, race licensing and more...