Matthew Nelson and Joanna Patterson were the leading male and female athletes as 24 British champions were crowned at the 2022 British Standard Distance Duathlon Championships on Sunday (20 March).

Returning to its usual early season slot in 2022, the first British Championships of the year saw 217 athletes, ranging from the ages of 18 to 74, compete for the British title and medals in each age group at Oulton Park.

Alongside the battle for the podium places across the different ages, the racing to be the first male and female athletes over the line lit up the Cheshire motor racing circuit throughout the afternoon.

In the men’s event it came down to the final lap after a brilliant battle between Nelson and last year’s overall winner Ben Goodfellow.

As each bike lap went by, Goodfellow narrowed the lead Nelson had built on the run until the former caught and passed Nelson on the final bike lap.

With only three seconds the difference heading into transition two and even less as they exited, it was a final lap shootout between the pair on the 4.3km run.

Just as Goodfellow set the quickest bike split of the day, Nelson posted the fastest run time of the race, making his move to pass Goodfellow in the first kilometre of their final time around the track.

The winning margin had grown to 41 seconds by the time Nelson entered the pit lane and crossed the line in 1:33:44 to secure the overall victory and the British title.

Speaking after the race win, the athlete from Beverley said: “I had a bit of a naff year last year, I underperformed a little bit and obviously with COVID it’s been rubbish with no mass starts. It’s great to have a really good race like this, it was a really good quality field, the racing was hot from the very start, so it means a lot to me to come away with the British title and the overall race win.”

Having finished second overall, Goodfellow still ended the day on the top step of the podium, winning the M25-29 age group, more than four minutes quicker than the winning time he recorded en-route to victory last October.

In the women’s event, the top female athlete and the new F30-34 British champion Joanna Patterson had to overcome adversity just to make it to start line having had COVID last month and a recent foot injury putting her participation in the event in doubt.

Despite nursing a foot injury and making a late decision to take-up her place on the start line, Patterson showed her strength, particularly on the bike, to finish in a time of 1:52:42, two minutes ahead of second-placed Anna Birrell, who won gold in the F20-24 age group.

After claiming the race win and her first British duathlon title, Patterson, who has won national time-trial titles in cycling, said: “I had been deciding over the past couple of days over whether to race or not as I got a foot injury three weeks ago and I couldn’t really walk until about a week ago. But I was determined I was going to do this race and I decided to go for it.

“The runs were really hard, my foot was quite swollen in my shoe, and it was all numb, so I tried to make-up as much time as possible on the bike. So, to be able to get the race win and the British title is great and it’s completely different to others I have won.”

It was a close battle behind Patterson with only seven seconds separating Birrell and third-placed Martha Tibbott, who secured the F25-29 British title.

Both the male and female 55-59 age groups were close. David Bagge defended his title in the age group with 58 seconds separating the top-three athletes of Bagge, Kevin Bexley and Craig Dyce. Nine seconds was the difference between the top two in the women’s equivalent with Alex Le Bek taking the British title ahead of Valerie Martin and Traci Shipley.

Other age group winners included Donna McHugh (F45-49), Karen Murphy (F50-54), Neil Hunter (M60-64), Liz Ball (F65-69) who all followed up their golds from last year’s Championships with another British title five months later, along with Dylan Parry in the male U20 age group.

Golds in the 35-39 age groups went to Adam Baker and Sarah Watts, while Dan Blake and Karina Kauffmann have the honour of being called British champions in the 40-44 age band.

Yvonne Twelvetree and Christopher Owens were both victorious in the 70-74 category, as was Catherine Hotchkiss in the F60-64 age group.

Ross Broomfield is the new British champion in the M20-24 age group, with Donald Brooks (M45-49), Robert Harrison (M50-54), Richard Miles (M65-69) and Mick Anglim (M75-79) all winning their respective age group races.

2022 British Standard Distance Duathlon Championships medallists

U20

Male: Gold – Dylan Parry

20-24

Female: Gold – Anna Birrell / Silver – Rebecca Thornton

Male: Gold – Ross Broomfield / Silver – Adam Dart / Bronze – Matthew Lear

25-29

Female: Gold – Martha Tibbot

Male: Gold - Ben Goodfellow / Silver – Beau Smith / Bronze – Ben Akin

30-34

Female: Gold - Joanna Patterson / Silver – Sarah Harding / Bronze – Hayley Wells

Male: Gold – Matthew Nelson / Silver – Sam Wade / Bronze – Joe Beech

35-39

Female: Gold - Sarah Watts / Silver – Charlotte Robb / Bronze – Racheal Fairclough

Male: Gold - Adam Baker / Silver – Chris Kilburn / Bronze – Alexander Doherty

40-44

Female: Gold – Karina Kauffmann / Silver – Laura Pescott / Bronze – Rhiannon Robson

Male: Gold - Dan Blake / Silver – Michael Dempster / Bronze – Owen James

45-49

Female: Gold - Donna McHugh / Silver – Samantha Howard / Bronze – Joanne Clark

Male: Gold - Donald Brooks / Silver – Leahn Parry / Bronze – Simon Brace

50-54

Female: Gold – Karen Murphy / Silver – Angela Hannon-Flaherty / Bronze – Elizabeth Burgess

Male: Gold - Robert Harrison / Silver – Chris Nicoll / Bronze – Jim Burdett

55-59

Female: Gold - Alex Le Bek / Silver - Valerie Martin / Bronze – Traci Shipley

Male: Gold - David Bagge / Silver – Keven Bexley / Bronze – Craig Dyce

60-64

Female: Gold - Catherine Hotchkiss

Male: Gold - Neil Hunter / Silver – Mick Flaherty / Bronze – Stephen Valentine

65-69

Female Gold – Liz Ball

Male: Gold - Richard Miles / Silver – Rob Pearson / Bronze – Ian Hunt

70-74

Female: Gold – Yvonne Twelvetree

Male: Gold - Christopher Owens / Silver – Robert Hodgson / Bronze – Rodger McCarroll

75-79

Male: Gold - Mick Anglim / Silver – Peter Simpson

Results: 2022 British Standard Distance Duathlon Championships