GB age-groupers bag eight medals at the ITU World Sprint Champs

Edward Castro, a swim coach at Bath Intensive Training Centre, showed he is more than adept on dry land too by claiming Britain’s only age-group gold medal at the 2014 World Sprint Champs in Canada.

Competing in the 25-29 category over a 750m swim, 20.4km bike ride and 5km run in Edmonton, Castro emerged 50secs clear from the water in 8:40mins before posting the fastest bike split (30:27) and third fastest run (17:43) to win by 49secs in 1:01:18.

In the men’s 30-34 category, Paul Ryman, a personal trainer from Frome, left T2 as joint-leader but had to settle for silver in 1:01:26, 20secs back from the USA’s Matt Migonis. The final British medal on the men’s side came courtesy of Geoffrey Gearing (M80-84), his third podium at a Worlds after placing third in Budapest (2010) and Vancouver (2008).

On a morning of fast racing at Hawrelak Park, the quickest split was posted by USA’s Elliot Brown (M20-24), who, boosted by a fish-like 8:05min swim, failed to break the hour mark by just 54secs.

The British women couldn’t deliver gold but did emerge with an impressive medal haul of five. Stephanie Mottram was a standout performer in 1:08:40, finishing just 2secs behind Canada’s Alison Jackson in a highly competitive 25-29 category.

In the 20-24 division, Hannah Johnston led out the swim in 8:56mins, before another home favourite Severine Bouchez proved too strong on the bike and run to win by 2:10mins. Fellow Brit Imogen Simmonds claimed bronze.

Clare Vallance (F35-39) and Jocye Mark (55-59) both took silvers, with Mark biked down by USA’s Donna Smyers after a fast swim.

There was also a triathlon legend proving she hasn’t lost her touch. Australia’s Michellie Jones, the Olympic silver medallist in Athens in 2000 and world Ironman champion in 2006, claimed the fastest overall women’s split as she won the 45-49 category by 3:35mins in 1:08:09.

GB World Sprint Champs medal tally

Golds 1

Silvers 6

Bronze 1

Image: Delly Carr/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.