7 days after taking top spot at the European Middle Distance Championships, Wight Tri member Liz Dunlop took on the Bala Triathlon to try to qualify for the 2024 European Triathlon Championships.
Due to the mist over the lake on the morning of the race, the swim section was cancelled, turned into a duathlon, and replaced by a 2.5km run. With a mass start of over 600 competitors, this proved challenging, particularly on the bike on the closed narrow roads.
Liz completed the 1st run in 13:58. Her 40km bike time of 1:14:11 was slower than she would have liked, but she found it difficult to settle into her pace as the bike course was congested.
On the 9.5km run, although tired and struggling with back and hip pain, Liz produced a solid run split of 46:57 to finish in 2:17:37 and take 2nd in the 65-69 category and achieve qualifying for the 2024 European Standard Distance Championships, which enables her to do the double at the 2024 European Championships, as she had already qualified for the European Sprint Championships earlier in the season.
Liz then lined up for the Bournemouth Sprint Distance Triathlon, which was another qualification race for the GB team; this time for the 2024 World Sprint Triathlon Championships in Malaga, Spain on Sunday 10th September.
A mass start to the 750m sea swim of age 45 and over females was pretty challenging. Liz struggled to swim freely but battled on to get around the first buoy and then just tried to complete the course as fast as she could and exited the sea in 4th position in the 65-69 age group in 17:59, which was slow in comparison with her normal standard.
The run into T1 was tough as the swimmers then had to run up the zig-zag from the beach to the top of the cliffs. Liz was quickly out of her wetsuit and onto the bike to take on the out-and-back 20km cycle along the dual carriageway heading out of town. She worked hard on the bike and posted a solid 42:00 bike split as she entered T2 still holding 4th position, but battling with the next in her age group – the 5th athlete, who was head on her heels out of transition.
Unfortunately, Liz’s back and hip went into spasms coming off the bike, hampering her stride on the run. However, she pushed on and still posted a creditable time of 26:48 for the run and finished in 1:33:27 to take 5th in the 65-69 age group.
Liz missed out on qualifying for the World Sprint Championships, but her time will be good enough for a roll-down place.
As Liz had already qualified for the 2024 World Standard Distance Championships in Malaga, this means that she can do the double here.
