Over 3,000 age group triathletes race in Hyde Park
24th July 2010
Over 3,000 triathletes competed in sprint and standard distance Age Group races at the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship London presented by Tata Steel this weekend.
The two races formed an integral part of a festival of triathlon, which saw two elite races, the British Youth and Junior Aquathlon Championships and the largest elite paratriathlon in Europe take place in iconic Hyde Park.
With thousands of age group athletes taking part, the atmosphere was carnival like, and the elite athletes were certainly thankful for their support today as Heather Williams, British Triathlon Performance Director, commented: “This has been a big weekend for all our guys. The support in Hyde Park has been absolutely fantastic, and I am sure they will all agree that spurred them on to some great performances.”
There were some high profile sport stars taking part in the races including the former European and Commonwealth Champion, Iwan Thomas. Iwan raced yesterday in the sprint event and finished 18th in his age group with a time of 1:21.21. After the race, Iwan showed his enthusiasm for the sport commenting: “I love this sport, I got overtaken by a million 14 year olds, but I love this sport and am coming back.” You can watch the full interview and many other video clips from both day’s racing on our British Triathlon YouTube channel.
Sponsors, Tata Steel, hosted a sprint wave for employees. HR Director and triathlon novice, Tor Farquhar said: “The open water swim was a bit of a shock, I misjudged that a bit. I got used to it but it was harder work than I expected. The cycle was lovely. I was passing work mates on the opposite side of the road all the time, as we’d see each other on the laps. I’ll definitely be back next year, I loved it!”
In today’s standard distance race, the age group community came out in force with each athlete completing their personal triathlon challenge, with friends and family supporting them. One athlete was especially ready for the triathlon challenge, as all blacks’ legend Sean Fitzpatrick raced as part of the Team Laureus relay.
Fitzpatrick tackled the 40k bike ride and was joined by fellow New Zealander Andrea Hewitt – fourth in yesterday’s women’s elite race – who took the swimming leg, and by Sky Sports presenter James Gemmell, who completed the team’s effort by running the 10k run.
The stars of the race though were the thousands of novice and experienced Age Group athletes that competed. Not only did they race, but they also supported our elite men and women, helping Helen Jenkins to third and Jonathan Brownlee to an inspirational second place, behind the Javier Gomez.
Unofficial results from both races can be downloaded below:
Sprint Distance: Age Group results.pdf
Standard Distance: Standard Distance results
See the action on our youtube channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/BritishTriathlon
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