Veteran 65-year-old Liz Dunlop took part in the European AG Aquathlon Championships and the European AG Middle Distance Triathlon Championships, winning bronze in the 1st event and gold in the 2nd.
The European AG Aquathlon Championships – a 1 km swim, followed by a 5km run – was the first of the events for Dunlop on Friday evening at 18:30. The swim was mainly downstream but getting to the outward and inward turning point proved a nightmare, with some competitors having to be rescued out of the river.
Liz exited in 4th position in her age group, a few minutes down on her competitors. However, she posted the fastest run split in her age group of 26:25, running into 3rd position to take the European Bronze Medal in the 65-69 age group, with the bonus of automatic qualification for the 2023 European Aquathlon Championships.
Less than 24 hours later, Liz took on the European Middle Distance Triathlon, consisting of the half ironman distances of 1900m swim, an 82 km cycle and 21 km run.
Dunlop – the oldest in her age group – started off last of all the swimmers in the championship event, but swam well to post a split of 44:06. She completed the cycle in a solid 3:28:59. She then finished the half marathon distance in 2:18:15, to complete the event in a very respectable overall time of 6 hours, 46 mins and 14secs.
As the oldest female competitor in the event and the sole woman in her age group, she automatically claimed the Gold medal and the title of European Middle Distance Triathlon champion in the 65-69 age group. She also claimed an automatic qualification action for the 2023 AG European Middle Distance Triathlon Championships.
Liz Dunlop said:
“To finish in the centre of Bilbao in the dark, with lots of supporters still out supporting the last few runners, was such an amazing experience, as I have never done a late evening triathlon event in all of my 32 years of triathlon racing. It would have been nice to have competition in my age group, but you can only race with those who make the start line!”
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Liz travelled with Island-born triathlete Liz Steward on her debut in the Team GB kit, competing in the Middle Distance Triathlon Championships.
Liz Steward started slightly earlier than Dunlop in the 40-44 age group wave. This was her 1st time wearing the GB team kit. She had a very good swim to enter T1 at 42:22, then posted a split of 2:53:13 for the bike, passing several younger cyclists in the process.
Steward comes from a long-distance running background; running is her strength. However, although she started well, the effort from the fast swim and bike splits affected her run. She still posted a very respectable split of 1:55:49, to finish in an overall time of 5 hours 42 mins 44secs and come 18th from 24 in the 40-44 age group category.
