GB’s age-groupers win 9 world standard-distance champ medals

A strong British age-group team for the standard distance ITU Triathlon World Championships went one better than their sprint counterparts, by winning nine medals on the last day of competition in Edmonton.

And the gold tally was trebled to three with Jane Leslie (F65-69), Daphne Belt (F70-74) and Neil Eddy (M25-29) all topping the podium.

Eddy, who finished fifth in the elite aquathlon on Wednesday, showed the swim-run combo had served as fine preparation as he took the men’s 25-29 division in 1:56:51. It was the only category that had two British age-groupers on the podium, with James Travers claiming bronze.

Belt, from West Sussex, moved up an impressive five places from the world champs in London last year, and European champion Leslie added to the silver medal won in the Aquathlon worlds on Wednesday.

As in the sprint race, Paul Ryman (M30-34) from Frome was again on the podium, but this time with bronze instead of silver in 1:57:45. The personal trainer need beat his nemesis from Friday, the USA’s Matt Migonis but was 1:22 behind Canadian Robert Johnson.

Edinburgh Road Club’s Penny Rother was a silver-medal winner in the women’s 55-59 category in 2:26:39 and it marked an improvement for the Scot who had achieved bronze both in Hyde Park last year and in Beijing in 2011.

A consistent performance by Maria Powell resulted in bronze in the women’s 45-49 class, making it a step up and on to the podium for the fourth placed finisher in London’s Grand Final last year.

Lucy Nell (F25-29) from Birmingham also took bronze in one of the day’s most competitive categories with an impressive 2:10:11, 27 seconds behind winner Robin Pomeroy from the USA.

Great Britain’s final bronze medallist was three-time European Champion, Hilary Stevenson (F70-74), who was back on the podium after a fourth place in the ETU European Championships in Kitzbuhel.

A final mention to the legendary Iron Nun of the US, Sister Madonna Buder, who showed she had recovered from her endeavours at Challenge Roth to romp to success in the F80-84 class in 4:19:13.

GB World Standard distant Champs medal tally

Golds 3

Silvers 1

Bronze 5

Image: Janos Schmidt/triathlon.org

Liz Barrett 220 Deputy Editor

About

220 deputy editor Liz Barrett started work on the magazine in 2007 as staff writer. Since then, she’s reported live from almost every major triathlon across the globe, including the Ironman World Championships, 70.3 Worlds, six ITU Worlds, Challenge Roth, the 2014 and 2022 Commonwealths, the London and Paris Olympics and the Rio Paralympics, to name but a few. Name a pro and chances are she’ll have interviewed them, so, unsurprisingly, she’s our go-to pro-athlete expert on the team. When not covering races, you’ll find her whipping words into finely-crafted shape for both the magazine and website.