Britain’s next generation showcased their talent in Roundhay Park today, kicking off two days of non-stop triathlon action at the AJ Bell World Triathlon Leeds.
The Youth and Junior Super Series races saw participants swim 400m, cycle 10km and take on a 2.5km run in challenging conditions on a wet and windy day in Leeds.
Oliver Makinson held off tough competition from Jonathan Oakey to take victory in the Junior Male’s race in a time of 33:20. Having been neck and neck from the very start, Oliver won a tight-fought race by eight seconds.
Reflecting on his win, Oliver said: “I’m over the moon with today’s win. On the bike, me and Jonny smashed it and were able to build a gap from the rest of the field. From then on it was a foot race right to the very end and to come out on top meant so much.”
A strong run out of transition saw Barbara de Koning was the victor in the Junior Female race completing the course in 37:55, 12 seconds clear of second placed Jess Fullagar.
Scotland’s Anna Hedley took the tape in the Youth Female’s race with a strong performance coming home in 38:41.
Speaking after her victory, Anna said: “I was just aiming to get a decent swim to get me into a descent bike pack, and then I got dropped on the bike but then I knew it’s kind of a runners course so I had to pull out a strong run at the end.
This is my first year doing Super Series and definitely my best result so far, I was actually aiming for top 20 today, so I’m really happy with that as I didn’t expect it.”
Welshman Osian Perrin won the Youth Male race putting in a fine performance coming home with a winning time of 34:59. Tom Hattee finished second with Rhys Ashton third.
Earlier in the day the TriStar waves had opened the racing schedule with many young athletes looking to build towards selection for their region’s IRC team at this year’s Big Weekend at Mallory Park.
The TriStar 2 boys race saw Alex Boyer crossing the line first in 25:31, ahead of Jamie Stewart. Scarlett Williams conquered in the girls race and clocked with a time of 26:34, eight seconds clear of Gabriella Horne.
In the Tristar 3 races, it was Elliot Gladwell and Sonja de Koning who took the boys and girls titles. Elliot finished with a time of 27:53 and Sonja finished in 29:44.
For full results, please click here.
Tomorrow on Sunday 9 June, the AJ Bell World Triathlon Leeds will host the world’s best triathletes as Britain’s best take on the rest of the world in the fourth leg of the ITU World Triathlon Series.
More than 70,000 fans are expected to arrive in the city and will be expecting a thrilling race as the 2019 event hosts arguably the strongest ever field in Leeds. A small number of grandstand tickets are still available at leeds.triathlon.org/tickets
The AJ Bell World Triathlon Leeds is organised by British Triathlon, in partnership with Leeds City Council, UK Sport and the ITU.
