Wight Tri members and IW Talented Athlete Award recipients, Liz Dunlop and Jan Fletcher, travelled to Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, to take part in their final event of the triathlon season at the Age Group World Standard Distance Triathlon Championships, Abu Dhabi.
With air and sea temperatures almost 30 degrees, it was going to be a hot race where hydration became a key part of their preparation and race strategy.
The 1500m non-wetsuit swim took place in Yas Bay, with the 40 km 2 lap cycle route taking in the flat smooth roads around Yas Island, and the 2-lap 10.4 km run twisting and turning its course around the Yas marina area, but all were exposed to the hot sunshine.
Jan Fletcher’s 45-49 age group wave started 1st of the 2, with Jan heading into the swim nervous but excited to take part in her 1st-ever Age Group World Championship triathlon event. This was Jan’s 5th time representing Team GB, having competed previously in 4 European Championships, but had never managed to get to a World Championships event due to the Covid-19 lockdown.
Jan had a solid swim, exiting the water in 27:41, in the top half and 17th in her age group, but a few minutes down on the leaders. However, Jan quickly sprinted the long 700m run to T1 to grab her bike and start on the bike course and onto her best disciplines.
Jan’s bike prowess showed through as she powered her way through the pack passing several in her age group as well as other younger age groupers on the course. She posted the 6th fastest bike split in her age group, with a fantastic time of 1:02:47, and move into a fabulous top 10 position.
However, she wasn’t content with that as she headed out onto the run. Despite struggling with blisters, from water-logged shoes, due to taking lots of water on board and keeping cool, she posted a superb run split of 44:52, 2nd fastest in her age group, to take herself up to a fantastic 6th position, and the 4th GB athlete as she crossed the finishing line. She also finished 44th female out of 285 female age groupers, ranging from 18 to 80 years of age.
Jan had also achieved a personal best time for this distance of 2:21:27: an amazing achievement in very tough conditions of 30-degree temperatures and high humidity for her 1st-ever overall World Championship event.
Liz Dunlop was off 15 mins later and had a good swim, battling with 2 others in the swim to exit the sea in 31:41 and in 5th position in the 65-69 category, only seconds behind 3rd and 4th but a few mins down on the leader. However, after a very swift transition, Liz was onto her bike in 3rd. Posting a 1:12:47 bike split, 4th fastest in her age group, she extended her lead and was over a minute ahead of the 4th placed athlete exiting T2.
Out onto the run, Liz ran sensibly, taking water onboard at all the cooling stations, and could see she was taking more time out of those behind her, so her podium position was secure, but couldn’t make any time up on the very fast top 2 in her age group. Posting the 3rd fastest age group time of 56:38, Liz crossed the finish line in an overall of 2:48:35, almost 12 mins ahead of the 4th athlete to take the Bronze medal in the 65-69 age group and 2nd GB athlete, qualifying for next year’s World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain.
Must be in distress.
The Union Jack is upside down.
Do you mean The Union Flag, as i can’t see any boats or ships around ?
Remember good lane ettiqutte back home though…iow tri dont own medina and the hieghts..think their members forgot that…
Well done Wight Tri, super athletes operating at world level!