Barclay Izzard secured silver at Europe Triathlon Cup Melilla, while there was victory for Fenella Langridge and a podium place for India Lee at Challenge Salou and a podium finish for Holly Lawrence at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside.
Closer to home, champions were crowned at the British Paraduathlon Championships and Triathlon England Standard Distance Duathlon Championships and the British Triathlon Super Series also got underway.
Europe Triathlon Cup Melilla (3 April)
It was a weekend which saw events affected by weather conditions including at Europe Triathlon Cup Melilla, where the event was switched to a duathlon due to the water and air temperature.
Barclay Izzard (00:47:28) was second in the elite men’s race, pushing race winner Dorian Coninx of France all the way to the finish, with only two seconds separating the pair as they crossed the line.
Dominic Coy (00:48:38) finished 18th in his first senior international race, while Iestyn Harrett was 33rd (00:49:42), Frederick Webb 40th (00:50:32) and Cameron Harris 54th (00:51:39).
In the women’s race, there was another top-10 finish for Iona Miller (00:53:24), who was sixth in Melilla, with Daisy Davies crossing the line 13th (00:54:04) on her senior international debut.
Results: Europe Triathlon Cup Melilla
British Paraduathlon Championships (3 April)
World and European champion Dave Ellis, and his guide Luke Pollard, added another title to their growing medal haul by successfully defending the men’s PTVI title at the British Paraduathlon Championships on Sunday.
Claire Danson (PTWC), Bret Crossley (PTWC), Jack Howitt (PTS2), Felix Barrow (PTS3), Megan Richter (PTS4), Finley Jakes (PTS4), Cheryl Went (PTS5) and Michael Sailsbury (PTS5) were also all crowned British champions in their respective classifications.
The event at Prestwold Hall was also the opening race of this year’s British Triathlon Paratri Super Series.
Results: British Paraduathlon Championships
British Triathlon Super Series (2 & 3 April)
The British Triathlon Super Series got underway with over 400 Youth & Junior and a number of Senior athletes taking part in Performance Assessments. Athletes completed a pool swim time-trial on Saturday and then a combined timed bike-run the following day.
Having picked-up from where they left off on Saturday, Lauren Mitchell and Millie Breese started the day’s racing on Sunday with victories in the Youth A and Youth B Women’s categories, respectively.
Their wins were followed by victories for Oliver Conway in the Youth B Men’s race and Rory Bryant in the Youth A equivalent. In the Junior Women’s race, the victory went to Lizzy Edge, with Ryan Symington having the same honour in the Junior Men’s race.
Jess Fullagar was the fastest in the Senior Women’s race, while Chris Perham was the first senior man across the line.
British Triathlon Super Series
Results: Performance Assessments
Triathlon England Standard Distance Duathlon Championships & GB Age-Group Team qualifier (3 April)
The first English national champions of 2022 were crowned at the Triathlon England Standard Distance Duathlon Championships on Sunday, which were held during the standard distance race at Yorkshire Duathlon.
24 national champions were crowned including overall and age group victories for Matthew Nelson and Katherine Stringer, with Nelson following-up his overall victory at the recent British Duathlon Championships by crossing the line first again.
The standard distance race was also a qualifying event for age group athletes who had registered their intent to qualify to represent the GB Age-Group Team at the 2023 European Standard Distance Duathlon Championships.
Results: Yorkshire Duathlon (Standard Distance)
IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside (2 April)
In the USA, Holly Lawrence was on the podium in the pro women’s race at IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside, finishing third after a consistent display across all three disciplines having led the race out of transition one.
Lawrence stopped the clock at 04:09:17 in California, where she was joined in the top-10 by Ruth Astle, who finished ninth (04:18:37).
Double Olympic champion Alistair Brownlee began his season with fourth in the pro men’s race having been at or near the front of the race for the majority of the bike and run. It was all change in the closing stages of the run with Brownlee going from lone leader to fourth and crossing the line 55 seconds behind race winner Jackson Laundry of Canada in a time of 03:45:55.
David McNamee was 12th completing the 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21.1km run in 03:56:02.
Results: IRONMAN 70.3 Oceanside
IRONMAN African Championship (3 April)
Joe Skipper had to contend with a shortened swim course and a mechanical on the bike as he finished fourth at the IRONMAN African Championship.
Despite the bike mechanical coming just after he had surged through the field to move into the lead, Skipper still managed to be at the front heading into transition two. The battle for podium places ended up being contested in front of him however as the run developed, Skipper crossing the line fourth.
There was no British winner in the women’s pro race for the first time since 2017, but that was despite a valiant effort from Susie Cheetham in her first IRONMAN since the birth of her son.
Cheetham was third off the bike – having been amongst the leaders – but the humid conditions began to take its toll as Cheetham’s race came to a premature end.
Results: IRONMAN African Championship
Challenge Salou (3 April)
There was British winner at Challenge Salou with Fenella Langridge adapting to the change from triathlon to duathlon because of the water temperature to claim the pro women’s race victory.
Langridge, who made the race-winning move on the final run, was joined on the podium by India Lee, who finished third. Lucy Byram was sixth, Rosie Weston 13th and Emma Cowper 14th.
In the pro men’s race, Sam Wade was the highest placed British athlete in ninth with Kieran Lindars 12th, Thomas Davies 27th and Brett Halliwell 30th.
