Race Report: British and English National Triathlon Championships at Blenheim Palace

Many congratulations to Laoise Bennis, now a very worthy silver and bronze medallist. Well done Laoise!

On June 8th, I competed in the British and English National Triathlon Championships held at the beautiful Blenheim Palace. The race was a sprint distance with a 750m swim, a challenging 20km bike course, and a rolling 5km run.

The weather was perfect, sunny and dry, with cool temperatures early in the morning before it got too hot. The swim was a point-to-point course with a tough, hilly run to transition. The bike course involved three laps, each with two long, draggy hills, plus a headwind on the back section, making it a real test of strength and endurance. The run was two laps of rolling terrain.

At the start, I thought I was out of the race as the fast swimmers disappeared quickly in a big pack. However, I found myself leading the chasing group. Leading in the swim was unfamiliar territory for me, and since the others weren’t fast enough to draft off, I had to take things into my own hands.

I had a fast, hilly transition and got onto the bike course where I worked hard to pick off people each lap. The bike reminded me of a chain gang crossed with the non-drafting of a time trial — full gas from start to finish with no one to work with or draft from my age group, so it was a solo effort. On the downhill sections, I focused on holding my position, knowing my smaller build made building speed challenging. I tucked in during the headwind sections to conserve energy and made sure to stay clear of drafting violations, as officials were closely monitoring.

By the end of the bike, I could feel the lactic acid building in my quads and was unsure if I had blown it, especially with some niggles affecting my run training in recent weeks meaning I wasn’t sure where I was at. When I hit the run, I just settled in and focused on picking off girls ahead of me in my age group. I managed to overtake at least one competitor and was thrilled to finish with a silver medal in the English Age Group Championships and a bronze in the British Age Group Championships, my first ever British Champs medal.

I’m proud of how I handled the swim and bike, and although the run wasn’t my best, given I hadn’t done much running recently, I was happy with my effort. Training with Welland Valley CC has definitely helped me push my limits, especially on the bike in Nicks chain gang group.

While I was one of the few from Welland Valley CC racing (as I’m one of the club’s few triathletes), it was great to catch up with familiar faces from around the country, including members of Welland Valley Tri Club.

All in all, it was a tough but rewarding race, and I’m proud to have represented the club on the national stage.