Fantastic Racing at the Ruthin Junior Triathlon, Llanelli Junior Duathlon and Stephen Lewis Aquathlon
It has been a big two weeks for the Welsh Tri-Star triathlon series, with 123 TriStar athletes taking part in the Llanelli Junior Duathlon, 133 racing in North Wales and then 150 entries a week later for the Stephen Lewis Aquathlon.
Llanelli Junior Duathlon
The Llanelli Junior Duathlon opened a weekend of triathlon events at Llanelli North Dock on 13th and 14th May. This included gateway selection races for Youth, Junior and Paratriathlon categories, as well as a senior race on Sunday won by Liam Lloyd for the men and Rebecca Bennett for the women.
With many children taking part in their first ever multisport race there were some fantastic performances throughout the field, while blustery conditions further added to the challenge ahead.
Kicking off proceedings were the TriStar Start athletes, with athletes completing a 400m first run, a 2k bike and a 300m second run. In a fast race it was Noah Prendiville who finished first in the boys’ race in 00:11:30.6, closely followed by Elis Penfold in 00:11:54.1s and Sion Thomas in 00:12:14.2. In the Girls race it was Imogen Mcadie who took the win in 00:12:14.8, with Seren Borland second in 00:12:41.6 and Grace Brady third in 00:13:55.35.
In the TriStar 1 category there was a big field of 44 on the start line, with the race covering distances of 1.2km on run 1, 4km on the bike and 500m on the second run. Rory Gravelle was first home in the boys’ race in 00:15:00.5, with Alfie Smallman second in 00:16:15.9 and Dewi Thomas 3rd in 00:16:54.7. For the Girls, it was Holly John who finished 1st in 00:17:07.2, with Efa Oliver 2nd in 00:18:43. There was a big battle for third place, with Florence Tovey just edging out Mabli Collyer and Bethany Clifford in 00:18:52.5; great racing by all involved.
The TriStar 2 race that followed was also a close affair, with Ioan Oldfield taking 1st place in 00:18:15.5, Finlay Catling 2nd in 00:19:19.1 and Luke Wyatt 3rd in 0:20:12.6 in the Boys race. In the Girls race Abigail Davies took the win in 00:20:28.05, closely followed by Anwen Nesham in 2nd in 00:21:02.55 and Eleanor White in 3rd in 00:22:52.85.
The final race saw an incredibly close battle at the front of the TriStar 3 event over the 2k run, 6k bike and 500m second run course. The bike proved to be the decisive leg and was enough for Nathan Coy, 00:18:57, to just hold off Alex Layzell for second in 00:19:06 and Liam Edwards in 00:19:15.
In the Girls race Bethany Cook took the win in 00:19:10 and was also part of the leading pack at the front of the TriStar 3 wave. Meanwhile there was also a close race for second and third, with Fiona Bostock 00:20:28, just edging out Freya Batkin in 00:20:33 and Tia Froom in 0:20:50.
Ruthin Junior Triathlon
On the same day in North Wales the Ruthin Junior Triathlon saw the first competition of the series over the swim, bike and run format.
As well as the age-groups included in the TriStar series there were events for TriStar Start, Youth athletes and a fun ‘super-mini’ event for children younger than the TriStar Start age group. There was also a mixed age group super sprint for children aged 8-16 who were taking part in their first event
A mention should also go to junior para-triathlete Elan Williams, who participated in the ‘super-mini’ event on an adapted trike which would crowd funded by Ruthin TriStars and the local community.
In the TriStar Start boys it was a tight race and a 1-2 finish for Cerist Triathlon Club, with Tristran Warrender finishing fractionally ahead of Liam Reading in 00:07:10.6, with Ewan Leonard (Denbighshire Triathlon Club) running well for third in 00:07:16.3.
In the TriStar Start Girls category it was Brooke Sherwood-Day (Denbighshire Tri Club) who finished 1st in 0:08:23.1, with Isabelle Edghill (TriStars Conwy) 2nd in 0:08:27.3 and Daisy Stone (Denbighshire Tri Club) 3rd in 00:08:44.8.
In the Youth Girls event Amelia Anderson (TriStars Conwy) took the win in 0:37:30.5, followed home by Niamh Merrison, also from TriStars Conwy, in 0:38:58.4 and Ceri Jones (Denbighshire Triathlon Club) in 0:40:19.7.
For the Youth Boys it was Alex Roberts (TriStars Conwy) who won in 00:33:01.8, with Ieuan Jones (Denbighshire Tri Club) second in 00:36:21.5 and Eifion Wyn Owen (Unattached) third in 00:37:12.3.
In the races for TriStar 1, 2 and 3 athletes, which counted towards the series, there was again some great racing on display. Iestyn Thomas (Triathlon Coaching Wales) won the TriStar 1 boys race in 00:16:26.7 while there was a close finish for second with Jake Whitecunas (Invictus Triathlon Club) just holding off Daniel Warrender (Cerist Triathlon Club) by 0.1 seconds in 00:16:58.5.
In the TriStar 1 Girls race there was also some close racing. Emma Poulston (Mersey Tri) was first in 00:15:56.4, with Ruthin Tri Club members packing well with Josephine Hurst, Lily Roberts and Faye Williams finishing respectively in quick succession for 2nd, 3rd and 4th.
In the TriStar 2 Boys category Ruthin TriStars took a clean sweep of the top three positions, with Oliver Jones winning from Luke Williams in second and William Stone in third.
Following a strong swim and quick run it was Freya Thapa (Cerist Triathlon Club) who took the win in the TriStar 2 Girls race in 00:24:00.3, with Layla Bradbrook (Denbighshire Triathlon Club) second in 00:24:12.3 and Lottie Parker third in 00:25:46.4.
In the TriStar 3 Girls race, Orla Davies (Denbighshire Triathlon Club) put together an impressive performance to win in 00:30:10.1, with Eve Scott (Denbighshire Triathlon Club) second in 0:34:17.0 and Lilly O’Dell (Cambridge Triathlon Club) third in 0:35:04.2.
For the TriStar 3 Boys, Osain Perrin (Denbighshire Triathlon Club) took the win in 00:29:41, followed by Huw Jones, also from Denbighshire Triathlon Club, in 00:31:19.6, while Cameron Shaw (TriStars Conwy) rounded out the podium in 0:32:57.3, just holding off a strong run from William Neale (Unattached) who was fourth in 00:33:02.7.
Stephen Lewis Aquathlon
The Welsh Tristars Series for 2017 continued on Sunday with almost 150 youngsters taking part in the Stephen Lewis Tristars Aquathlon at the Ystradgynlais Leisure Centre in the Swansea Valley.
The event, created in memory of Police Officer and Celtic Tri club member Stephen Lewis who was tragically killed in a cycling accident, was Welsh Triathlon's Event of the Year in 2016 and was back in an expanded format for 2017.
In addition to the regular Tristars categories there were also two untimed fun aquathlon races and a junior fun run for the under-8s.
Former Welsh rugby star - and now Ironman triathlete - Ian Gough was a special guest at the event and handed out the medals to many of competitors.
In perfect conditions Seren Borland (Tristars Conwy) and Tristan Warrender (Cerist Tri) took the honours in the Tristars Start category with Millie Hannant (Ruthin Tristars) and Ioan James (Aim2Tri) emerging winners in the highly competitive T1 races.
A great day for Aim2Tri continued in the T2 girls race where Abigail Davies and Eve Hickman took a one-two ahead of Freya Thapa (Cerist Tri).
There was success for the host club Celtic Tri in the boys T2 where Finlay Catling finished ahead of Luke Wyatt (unattached) and yet another Aim2TRi athlete Tristyn James.
Denbighshire's Orla Davies was an impressive winner of the T3 girls and in the race of the day Callum Thomas (unattached) edged out Alex Layzell (Triathlon Coaching Wales) by just one second to take the boys T3 win.
Ashleigh Willis (unattached) and Joshua Wallace (Celtic Tri) were the respective winners of the Youths races.
"It was a great day with some top quality racing but also plenty of smiling faces all round," said Race Director Mark Edwards.
The Series so far…
Welsh Triathlon would like to congratulate everyone who has taken part in a TriStar race this year so far. There has been some excellent racing so far and some close finishes. Thanks to all race organisers, marshals, volunteers and officials who have made these excellent events possible. It is also great to see big numbers competing in TriStar races, showing the increasing depth in Welsh Junior triathlon.
With the season now in full swing TriStar athletes won’t have to wait too long to have their next go at racing. This weekend sees the Pencoed Kids Triathlon, which will host race 5 in the series, with the Cardiff Junior Triathlon on the 10th June.
Results and TriStar standings after three races are on the website here: https://www.welshtriathlon.org/events/tristars-series/tristar-series-results
The points from the Stephen Lewis Aquathlon will be published shortly
All series enquiries should be made to willkirk@welshtriathlon.org
