Aberfeldy 2021: Brashaw and Byram claim British Middle Distance Championship titles

Long distance triathlon has been taking place in Aberfeldy, Highland Perthshire, Scotland for about as long as I can remember. And my memory for most things is pretty average, I’d say that for the sport of triathlon it is significantly above average. Basically, it’s been part of the domestic calendar for a long, long time!

No part of the Aberfeldy Multi Sport Festival, the Middle Distance triathlon played host once again to the British and Scottish championships on Sunday, just as it did in 2019.

Significantly north of 500 entries were received, and judging by the names present with the top-10’s (see below), of both the men’s and women’s results, some high quality racing followed too.

Hugh Brashaw’s season continues

Another cracking result for Hugh Brashaw, who was first across the line last month at IRONMAN 70.3 Staffordshire.

Two minutes down of swim leader Nathan Ford, he produced one of the best bike splits of the day to move through the field and start the run in close contention with James Scott-Farrington, but still more than a minute down on Alex Woodman (Tripurbeck). Benjamin Goodfellow and the fast-running Ewan Brown – recent winner, in course record time, of the Celtman Extreme Triathlon – were among those not too far behind either.

Brashaw needed to run well, and he did, taking the victory by a minute and a half. Ewan Brown – just – got the silver – in a very close finish with Scott-Farrington, with the rest of the top ten packed with familiar names, national champions, and even an IRONMAN World Championship Age-Group winner (Aaron Tomasz, 10th).

[UPDATE – I’ve just found out since writing the report that swim leader Nathan Ford was involved in a serious accident on the bike section, with potentially life threatening injuries – brain and spinal. Devastating news to hear, “We have a long and frightening road ahead of us” posted Nathan’s wife, Catrin, on Facebook.

Currently in intensive care in Scotland – 500 miles away from their Welsh base – you can support Nathan and his family on what will be some difficult times ahead here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/nathan-ford]

Lucy Byram goes long – and wins

Lucy Byram has been a familiar name in draft-legal racing at the British Triathlon Super Series for many years now, and Sunday’s race was her first attempt at the distance. She made it a good one!

Second out of the water – with only Megan McDonald ahead – and then took the lead with a race-best bike split of 2:39:50.

She had some very fast runners chasing her courtesy of Olivia Matthews (1:18:25) and Hannah Lord (1:15:35), but her work on the bike, combined with a 1:21:07 run was enough to hold on for victory, with Matthews and Lord completing the women’s top three.

As with the men, plenty of familiar names filling that top ten overall.