It was a weekend full of international racing for our athletes. Here’s how they did:
Rhys Jones and Rhys James
On Friday night (GMT), our Welsh para-triathlete Rhys Jones competed in the opening event of the World Triathlon Para Series in Devonport, Australia. He raced with his guide Rhys James. The pair, or ‘Rhys squared’, had some great achievements last year including coming 4th at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and coming 9th in their first World Triathlon Para Series race in Swansea. Their achievements do not stay behind in 2022. Rhys and Rhys crossed the line 6th in the men’s PTVI on Friday.
When asked about his thoughts, Rhys Jones said “points were the aim of the game this weekend and when conditions took a turn for the worse on the bike we decided to test out the run legs instead and make it round safe. All in all a successful trip and a great stepping stone to build from this season!”
We want to congratulate Rhys on the great result and we are looking forward to following the rest of his event season as he works to qualify for Paris 2024.
Joshua Lewis
Josh Lewis, our National Triathlon Performance Centre Wales (NTPCW) athlete, tackled Ironman 70.3 in Lanzarote on Saturday. It was a very windy day in Lanzarote but that didn’t stop Josh from securing an incredible result as he crosses the finish line in 7th place.
When reflecting on the event, Josh said “That was a savage course and conditions but it was epic to get stuck in with some of the best in the sport and put together potentially my best career result to date. It starts the season off on the right foot, and it always means a lot to be the first Brit across the line!”
That’s only the start of event season for Josh as he heads to Marbella on May 7th next. Congratulations Josh!
Iestyn Harrett, Genta Uchida, Matthew Wright and Ollie Turner
Another four of our NTPCW athletes flew out to South Africa last week, where they will be staying for the next two weeks. Iestyn Harrett, Genta Uchida, Matthew Wright and Ollie Turner all competed in the 2023 Africa Triathlon Premium Cup Nelson Mandela Bay on Sunday. All of the boys did incredibly well. Ollie, who got 6th place, said “I couldn’t be happier to kick off the season with 6th down here in South Africa! I knew I was in good shape leading into the race so it’s nice to have this reiterated with a solid race result. It’s head down now with recovery and prep for Swakopmund, Namibia this coming Saturday”.
Iestyn also had a great result, coming in 14th, he said it was a “tough first race of the season. It’s always hard swimming open water after being out the sea/lake for 5 months over the winter. I just wasn’t quite able to make the front group. Rode hard on the bike to minimise the deficit to the front of the race but struggled on the run with the heat. Looking forward to redeeming myself next week”.
Following closely behind him in 15th place was Genta Uchida, who said "I wasn't satisfied with my race yesterday. Next week I will race in Namibia and I will do my best."
After an impressive start to the race, Matthew unfortunately had to DNF. He said he “had a great swim & bike to come off with the lead group of 9. 2mins 45s up the road. In my mind I was up to fight for the win but unfortunately my GI issues caused projective vomiting and disappointingly had to DNF”.
Congratulations to each of the boys for their performance on Sunday. We’re looking forward to seeing how they do in the Africa Triathlon Cup in Swakopmund, Namibia on Saturday!
