The sunny road to Rotterdam

On Sunday 21st May 2017, over 1,300 triathletes visited Dorney Lake for the second day of the Nuffield Health Eton Sprints Weekend. It was a sunny Sunday morning full of excitement and trepidation as over 700 individuals took the plunge into the lake to begin their ITU Sprint Distance Triathlon World Championships Qualifier. The exhilaration continued throughout the day as the regular waves set off onto the sun-drenched course.

As the clouds burnt away over Dorney Lake, the bustle of the event village began to come alive with the early participants preparing for their race. Nuffield Health, the Official Health and Wellbeing partner of Human Race, were prepared for a day full of post-race massages under their signature green pop ups. Zone3 were poised and ready to support those who had forgotten any swim equipment essentials and Science in Sport’s nutritional products were laid out and ready to power triathletes to the finish. Our new official breakfast sponsor, FUEL10K, were fuelling participants and crew alike with free samples of their protein-boosted porridge pots, quark and breakfast drinks.

ITU Qualifier age group waves started heading off from 8:40am, with Women U35 being the first category of the day to put their winter training to the test. The second year of being a draft legal course made for a thrilling spectacle and only added to the excitement of the day. Crossing the finish line and taking the victory in the first wave of the day was Emma Dixon who speeded across the finish line in a remarkable time (1:07:22). Emma was closely followed by Samantha Rose (1:08:21) and Rosie Weston (1:08:40). We wish Emma and the other female qualifiers the best of luck at the World Championships in Rotterdam this September! A special acknowledgement must go to Mary Anstey who, at 81 years old, powered across the finish line looking very fresh and completing the course in 1:59:26.

Elsewhere in the event village, as the day heated up, Yellow Jersey were on hand to provide a free body fat composition analysis as well as providing information on insuring your bikes and kit for the season. Enertor, alongside a life-size cut out of Usain Bolt, were engaging participants and their families in a competition to win a pair of insoles if they had their picture taken with the big man.

The waves then set off thick and fast with the next wave, women’s 40-44, being won by Gwen Kinsey (1:10:44) followed by Maria Powell who won the Women’s 50+ in a time of 1:10:37.

The men were up next with a wider range of age groups racing. Some standout performances from the day’s racing included James Dean (59:47) who was our fastest sprint triathlete of the day, completing the course in under an hour, followed closely by Oscar Rogers, a junior triathlete who clocked the second fastest time of the day’s racing, finishing in 1:00:32.

With the draft legal qualification racing now complete it was time to turn our attentions to the non-drafting sprint distance races. There was a noticeable change in atmosphere as the participants were now a greater mix of the experienced and beginner triathletes. Nevertheless, we were really impressed with the quality of the racing and some of the winning times, in particular Pawel Traczyk (1:02:40) in the men’s 35-39 race and Sarah Lewis (1:05:50) in the women’s 35-39 race who were our two fastest finishers in the non-drafting sprint event.

Last up in our triathlon feast were the famous SuperSprint races. Taking the crown in the men’s events was Angus Whitfield (1:02:09) followed extremely closely by Hugh Harris (1:02:10). The women’s race was won by triathlete Megan Powell (1:12:01) who finished well ahead of the field, followed by Amanda Benstead (1:17:53).

As participants crossed the line they were offered SiS post-race recovery products and a refreshing isotonic drink from ERDINGER Alkoholfrei, before the expert masseuses at Nuffield Health were on hand to aid any aches and pains of the participants. The heat of the day didn’t deter anyone from completing personal bests and achievements.

The day of racing was full of action, personal bests and great achievements, which we can’t do justice to in this small summary of the day. You can see all the results on the Human Race website here.

The next triathlon for Human Race is the famous Nuffield Health Royal Windsor Triathlon, the most decorated triathlon in UK history. There are still a few weeks left to enter – find out more on the event page.