Isle of Wight Talented Athlete Jan Fletcher took 10th spot in her age group (45-49) at the World Age Group Sprint Triathlon Championships in Hamburg.
Jan competed in a strong field of 71 athletes and was the 2nd fastest British athlete.
The swim was a deep water start and was a 1-lap 750m course. The run from the swim to T1 was long, and transition was split into 2 mirror-imaged areas: T1 for the bike and T2 for the run.
Jan exited the swim in 13 minutes 35 seconds in the top half of the pack and started to make up places on the long run into T1. She then made the long run (approx 700m) to the mount line and found herself off the back of the pack at that stage, so had some work to do to bridge the gap (which she quickly did).
The bike leg was a 2-lap 20km course of the main roads. Jan was in a huge pack with athletes from all nations, including a large number of fellow GB triathletes. She completed the bike in a competitive 32 minutes 33 seconds.
The Isle of Wight triathlete was just behind a number of athletes exiting T2 and overtook them almost immediately to start the 1-lap, 5km run. She passed a number of athletes, a lot of whom were in the younger age groups, who had started in 5-minute intervals before her wave. She was not overtaken by anyone on the run, posting a time of 20 minutes 43 seconds, the 4th fastest split in her age group.
Jan crossed the finish line in 1hr 13mins 24 seconds, taking 10th place in her age group from a very strong field of 71 triathletes and was the 2nd GB athlete from a field of 19. As a result of her position, she has gained an automatic qualification spot for next year’s World Age Group Triathlon Championships in Malaga.
Lucy Doorly comes closest to nominated time in Wight Tri Aquabike event
Wight Tri held the 2nd of their Summer Splash and Dash Series events – the Yaverland Aquabike – with the choice of a 250m or 400m sea swim and a 10.5km or 19.5km cycle ride out to Bembridge and return.
As this is a nominated event, the winner closet to their nominated time was Lucy Doorly just 39 seconds outside her time of 55 mins for the long course swim and bike.
2nd was Chris Till, 2 mins 18secs out posting a time of 37:42 for the long course. 3rd was Trevor McAlister, who completed the long course in 45:10, 2 mins 50 secs inside his estimated time.
Fastest on the long course was Chris Till, who also posted the fastest bike split of 29:07, which is possibly a course record. Lucy Doorly was the fastest female in 55:39, with Annette Hickman. (32:43) and Roy Young (29:28) fastest on the short course.
The next event in the series is the Gurnard Aquathlon on Friday 28th July, starting at 18:30 from Gurnard Sailing Club.
