Thousands of triathletes took part in the AJ Bell World Triathlon Leeds 2018 today with many of Britain’s leading age-group triathletes racing for coveted British titles.
Roundhay Park provided an iconic setting for the British Age-Group Standard Distance Triathlon Championships with waves getting underway from 7am.
The male Championship competitors completed a 750m swim due to reduced visibility early on before embarking on a 36.2km bike and 10km run into the city centre and a famous blue carpet finish just hours ahead of the world’s best. All female waves took place later in the day and returned to the full 1,500m standard distance swim.
The first finisher today was Paul Kerr (20-24) who was delighted with his performance commenting:
Yeah it was actually really enjoyable, it was just perfect today and actually a really good course for a strong biker. I was just putting in a lot of effort on the hills which was really good fun. It was great really well organised, like tonnes of marshals and stuff so I was never worried about going off course so I just want to say well done on putting on a fantastic event"
The first female finisher was Rosie Wild, who added:
"It was really good fun today, actually perfect weather for it. It was nice and calm and quite cool. This is my first experience here, I did one of the ITU races in Abu Dhabi before but this is my first one in Leeds and my first big UK triathlons actually, it was great."
Merielle Cook who secured the Women's (40-44) British Age-Group Standard Distance Championship title commented on the crowd support:
"It was great you know there’s just so much support. What I love is you just get kids holding posters that you can like hit if you want a turbo boost and their all looking for high-five’s it makes such a difference."
Donald Brooks won the British Age-Group Standard Distance Championships in the male (40-44) category and added:
"The race was great, a very fast swim, I had competition in the swim and the transition is a run in itself. The bike was fast. It was a shame the swim was short due to the mist but I can see why it was done and everyone got out early and then the run was straight into the city centre with a loop around what we’ve just watched the elites on and finishing on the same blue carpet."
Alongside Britain’s leading age-group triathletes, the AJ Bell World Triathlon Leeds 2018 also provided the opportunity for newcomers to the sport to take on the triathlon challenge with open standard, sprint and relay events.
Provisional results from all the races at the AJ Bell World Triathlon Leeds 2018 can be found here.
Triathletes interested in taking part in future events can pre-register for 2019 at leeds.triathlon.org/2019
The AJ Bell World Triathlon Leeds is organised by British Triathlon, in partnership with Leeds City Council, UK Sport and the ITU.
