Wight Tri members and GB Age Group triathletes, Jan Fletcher and Liz Dunlop, travelled to different sides of the UK to take part in qualification triathlon events for the 2023 World Sprint Triathlon Championship in Hamburg, Germany and World Standard Triathlon Championships in Pontevedra, Spain.
Jan travelled to the North East to take part in the Box End Sprint Triathlon in Bedfordshire, which took in a 750m lake swim in the Box End Waterskiing lake, followed by an undulating 21km cycle around the Bedfordshire country roads, and then continuing with a tough hilly off-road 5km run around the lake.
She started off with a solid swim to exit the lake in 14:44 in 4th position but a few minutes down on the first of the 45-49 age group competitors. Onto her bike, where she excels, she was soon chasing several down and completed the bike route in a very fast 38:03, 2nd fastest in her age group, exiting T2 in 2nd position but almost neck and neck with the 3rd competitor. A tough battle, with the lead changing to and fro, Jan completed the run in a super fast 23:01, but unfortunately narrowly lost out and finished 3rd in 1:18:14, only 1 second off 2nd place.
On the same day, Liz Dunlop travelled to Ellesmere in the West Midlands to compete in the Shropshire Standard Distance Triathlon. Liz lead her age group from the start, exiting the Mere lake in Ellesmere in 28:53 for the 1500m swim. The cycle took the competitors around a tough, hilly 40km cycle loop in the Shropshire countryside, which Liz completed in a good time of 1:18:34, well ahead of the 2nd in her age group, and passing several younger athletes. Onto the run which took in another very undulating 2 lap 10km route, she ran well but was glad to finish such a tough run in 55:52 with a finishing time of 2:46:58 to take the 1st podium place in her age group.
Jan and Liz have now gained automatic qualification for both the Age Group European Sprint and Standard Distance Triathlons and also both the Age Group World Sprint and Standard Distance Triathlons for the 2023 Championships, so 2023 could be another busy and expensive year for the Wight Tri girls.
They are also heading off this weekend for the English Standard Distance Triathlon Championships taking place at the Challenging Events Bournemouth Triathlon, which is also a qualifier for the IW Island Games Triathlon in Guernsey in 2023.
Congratulations Jan and Liz! Superb achievement and dedication!