World Championship sprint qualifiers, Challenge Roth and 70.3 racing
Age group qualifiers are in full swing in the UK and there were several GS athletes racing at Dorney Lake last week in the World Championship Sprint qualifiers. The races also doubled up as the British Sprint Champs meaning a very strong field and tricky qualification targets. Added to this were the challenges of the hot weather which also led to a non wetsuit swim. Unperturbed, Julie, Rose and Annie where in the start pen for a 9.40 start (not sure why the organisers don’t put the older age groups earlier rather than in the worst heat of today?) and all had fab swims. Julie was out first, up with the lead group in her age group and Rose and Annie exited a couple of minutes later.
Rose then matched the fastest bike split in the age group to put her in a podium position onto the run which she held on to brilliantly despite struggling a bit with the heat to finish in 3rd place in the national championship and an automatic qualification slot. Julie had already qualified at the Outlaw but along with Annie put in good bike splits and solid if difficult runs in the heat to both finish inside the qualification time (TBC).
Meanwhile Kevin was having a good time over in Roth taking part in the iconic race for the second time and really enjoying it = great performance.
Becky and Martin were racing IM 70.3 Les Sables D’Olonne, a race they are both familiar with. Unfortunately they were not as familiar with the local parking restrictions and managed to get their car towed on the morning of the race resulting in a 2km hike with 3 litres of water each so not the ideal race prep. Not withstanding this, they both raced well and an excellent all round race from Becky means that she was able to secure a spot in the IM 70.3 World Championships in Nice where she will be able to join up with some of the rest of the team.
Finally, in an unusual show of antisocial behaviour, Eric decided to go all the way to Norway to race Challenge Sandefjord. It turned out to be a great plan though. Not put off but he cold water swim, Eric stormed his way round to win his age group and secure yet another interview with the local radio station along with a slot in the Challenge Championships for 2027.
