2 Wight Tri members and IW Talented Award athletes – Jan Fletcher and Liz Dunlop – took on 2 British Triathlon Federation (BTF) age group qualification events over the last 2 weekends, achieving qualification for the 2024 European Championships.
Eton Dorney Sprint Triathlon
Both females – Jaqn Fletcher and Liz Dunlop – had personal best swims, despite struggling with the cold lake temperature. However, the air temperature and wind on the bike course had a more detrimental affect on their performance.
Liz was lucky to get into a fast pack on the bike and had another personal best performance but struggled on the run due to the effect the cold wind had had on her core temperature. However, she still finished 5th in the 65-69 age group in a PB time of 1:28:02 and also in 6th qualifier position.
Jan also got into a pack on the bike too, but rather than push on hard, she tried to shelter in the pack and kept her legs for the run to finish with a fantastic run split and an overall time of 1:16:46 and 10th in the 45-49 category and 7th qualifier.
As only the first 4 had automatic qualification, Jan and Liz hoped their times were good enough for a roll-down place for the 2024 European Sprint Distance Championships (venue unknown).
Box End Standard Distance Triathlon – 2024 Age Group World Standard Distance Triathlon Championships Qualifier
This weekend, both females achieved automatic qualification. Jan and Liz both finished 2nd in their respective age groups in the Box End standard Distance Triathlon, with qualification slots achieved for the 2024 Age Group World Standard Distance Triathlon in Malaga, Spain.
This was one of the toughest events both have completed. A rough 2-lap lake 1500m swim in a huge mixed field was tough to start with, followed by a 40km undulating bike course, made worse by the poor road conditions and cold wind. This would have been bad enough, but it finished with a 2-lap hilly off-road 10km run course that was not for the faint hearted.
However, the grit and determination of these seasoned triathletes shone through to earn their qualification places.
Jan posted great splits for all disciplines to beat many of her fellow age groupers from the previous week and finished in 2:35:35. Liz didn’t fare as well this week, especially struggling on the run but nonetheless conquered her demons from crashing the last time she attempted this course and finished in 3:05:39.
Liz is now preparing to take on the 2023 European Age group championships in both the standard and the sprint distance events in Madrid in 2 weeks’ time.
Jan is also continuing with her training for her 1st half Ironman distance event at the PSUK Championships at the Lakesman triathlon in 4 weeks’ time before she heads to Guernsey in July as part of the IW Island Games triathlon team and then straight onto the World Sprint Triathlon Championships in Hamburg.
