A record number of entrants battled against monsoon like conditions on Sunday 3rd May 2015 at St Mary’s Sports Centre in Calne, Wiltshire for the opportunity to be crowned British Universities Sprint Triathlon Champion.
The morning’s racing started with glorious sunshine; unfortunately this proved to be the calm before the storm as 639 competitors took on the variable weather conditions from monsoon like to pure sunshine. The triathletes who started early, many competing in their first triathlon, managed to escape the worst of the weather with only a few minor puddles to avoid. The triathletes who started later were not as lucky. Proceedings were brought to a halt when the main thunderstorm hit and race officials made the decision to suspend the racing for 10 minutes. The Race Director Aaron Ward said “the flashes of lighting and stair rod rain made the decision easy to stop the race for safety reasons until the storm had passed”.
After a short break the racing was back underway as the triathletes took on the 750m pool based swim, 25km bike and 5km run. The weather improved as the elite triathletes took to the course but the road conditions being greasy made for fearless bike handling skills as the elites gambled on the wet and dry sections of the course setting them up for a fast flat 5km run. The fastest triathlete Richard Horton clocking a run split of 15.54.
As the racing came to a close, Samuel Wade of Cardiff Metropolitan Uni was the quickest across the line in a time of 01:05:18, nearly a minute ahead of Richard Horton 01:06:14 and Chris Perham 01:06:17 both of Loughborough Uni. It proved to be a clean sweep for Cardiff Metropolitan Uni when Zoe Thomas took the women’s BUCS title in 01:11:43. In second place was Sophie Coldwell a Loughborough student in the world class performance squad at Loughborough with an overall time of 01:12:32 who lost time on the bike section to Zoe Thomas. In third position was Chloe Cook from Leeds Beckett Uni (Carnegie) who had the fastest run split of the day in 18:23 and an overall time of 01:12:47. The fastest female swim split on the day was Kimberley Bell in 09:08. A triathlete to watch out for in the future from Birmingham Uni was Floren Scrafton with an overall position of 12th but with the third fastest female run split of the day with 18:49.
Triathlon England's regional manager David Hooper said " Its great to see so many students racing today and the determination shown in adverse conditions was second to none"
