Rachel Hobbs and Steve Harrison tightened their respective grips on the top prize for the series after the Bedford Traktors race on Sunday 10th June. Second placed Kerri Renshaw would have won Race 1 with 1:11:01 but series leader, Hobbs went a clear three minutes faster than last month to post an outstanding 1:08:01. This placed her 11th overall on the day and with a comfortable 4:12 cushion going into the final round on July 1st. Traktors’ own Carla Fisher was third on the day.

The men’s race was slightly tighter. Series leader, Steve Harrison was racing an elite event in Wales the previous day and his strength was in question. The man set on testing that was the on-form James Elworthy. With less than a minute between them after the swim and bike sections they set off on the 5k run. Elworthy gave everything and again won the run but it was not enough and Harrison held on for victory. The series lead is now 2:47 but anything could happen in the final round!