The sun shone on day full of action at Mallory Park for the Inter Regional Championships (IRC’s).
The event represents the pinnacle of the competitive season for 11-14 year olds and represents the first steps on the elite pathway. 12 regions across the UK are represented, with the hope of taking away the coveted IRC title.
The TriStar 3 women’s race started IRC proceeding with Scotland’s Isla Britton (26:00) storming away from Lily Jane Evans-Haggerty (26:17) and Bethany Cook (26:32) to take the win after a fantastic stint on the bike.
Britton commented “I had a decent swim, it was a bit jumbled up in the middle but I came out of the swim fourth. On my bike it turned out I put the wrong bike shoe on the wrong pedal so was cycling with my shoes backwards and so I lost a few seconds there but I really gained on them up the hill and then down the straights as I’m quite good at dead turns. Out on the run I just then gave it gave it everything I got.”
South Central’s claim of this year’s IRC title was helped by Daniel Roberts (25:06) in the TriStar 3 men’s race who finished ahead of Benjamin Cumberland (25:14) and team mate Bertie Petit (25:20) to take the top spot on the podium.
Following his success, Roberts said “I came out of the swim a bit far back but managed to get into a decent bike pack, had a few issues on the bike but came onto the run sixth and pushed all the way to the end, it was a tough race today!”
East region‘s Antonia Jubb (20:34) put in a strong effort on the bike and run section to take the win that had eluded her in Strathclyde last year. Hannah Camden (21:17) and Amelia Chrispin (21:19) completed the podium in the TriStar 2’s women’s race.
Jubb added “Last year I came sixth, so I was eager to go out and win this time round. I’ve put a lot into my training.
I didn’t swim as well as I’d hoped for and ended up coming out sixth but had a really good transition which meant I got out on the bike third. Then out on the bike I manged to drop some athletes on the hill and get ahead. From there I thought I’d go for it and pushed on and ended up with the win. I’m really happy.”
Elliot Gladwell (19:29) representing the East region won the closing event of the IRC programme, taking the TriStar 2 men’s title ahead of Christo Chilton (19:37) and Thomas Dixon (19:42).
Elliot commented “The race was good, on the cycle I just had to go because I didn’t do very well on the swim, so I just went for it and I got a good lead which I managed to keep on the run.”
A team of up to 12 athletes competed for each of the regions, with the regions’ 10 best results culminating in their overall total to decide the British Triathlon Inter Regional Championship winner. South Central’s success saw them take the title, with 2016 champions South West finishing second and East Midlands settling for bronze.
Final IRC Ranking
- South Central
- South West
- East Midlands
- North East
- Scotland
- South East
- Yorkshire
- East
- North West
- Wales
- London
- West Midlands
For full individual results please visit here.
