Wight Tri was well represented at the European Age Group Standard Distance Triathlon Championship in Weert, Netherlands at the weekend, with 5 Islanders representing Team GB.
First timers Jan Fletcher and Dean Haward, along with seasoned triathletes Liz Dunlop, Stuart Dyer and Glyn Jenkins, are all members of the Isle of Wight Talented Athlete Scheme, supported by the Isle of Wight Council and Wightlink.
The European Championships were run over 2 days with all the females and 55 plus age group men racing on the Saturday and the younger men on the Sunday. This was one of the largest fields at these Championships, being well supported by the host nation and nearby countries.
The race started with a 1500m swim in the Blue Lake on the outskirts of Weert, continuing onto a very fast flat 40km, 2.5 lap cycle route taking the competitors into the centre of Weert to the second transition. The 4 lap run route around the town centre was mainly flat with only a slight incline near the finish. However, temperatures of 26 degrees on the Saturday and 29 degrees on the Sunday took its toll on the runners preventing extremely fast run times.
On Saturday, Jan Fletcher had a fantastic debut performance with a super 29:44 swim and a huge personal best bike split of 1:03:44 and 7th top in her age group. She followed this with a solid run of 49:05 to finish in 18th position from 38 in the 40-44 age group, finishing in an overall PB time of 2:28:34 for this distance. This strong performance indicates that Jan is in great early season form with all the consistent winter training paying dividends. This is good news for the Isle of Wight triathlon team as she is soon to take on the triathlon at the Island Games in Gibraltar in July.
Liz Dunlop, at her 9th European Championships, was very happy to finish 10th in the 60-64 age group in 2:46:34 with splits of 31:05, 1:11:48 and 56:32, showing that experience pays off as she still managed to pull off a decent performance even after a poor build up to this race.
Glyn Jenkins in the 65-69 category and 3rd time in Team GB colours, had a solid race to finish 26th in 2:59:29 ( 34:08/1:16:00/1:01:12). This is another excellent performance from Glyn after health issues, weeks before the competition limited his training routine.
Sunday’s hotter temperatures were even more treacherous to the triathletes.
Dean Haward, also wearing his first GB age group trisuit, started well with a swim of 29:03, followed by a 1:00:53 bike split and 46:31 run to complete his debut race for Team GB in 2:22:03 to take 29 place from 42 in the 40-44 age category; again another excellent first time performance.
Stuart Dyer taking part in his 4th European Championships and in his last year in the 50-54 age category, had another solid performance to finish 34th out of 67 competitors in a very competitive field. Splits of 27:55, 1:01:00 and 45:30 saw him complete the course in a very fast 2:19:45.
