British Age-Groupers lead the way in Slovakia
Fastest Male and Female athletes overall in Samorin are Brits
The third edition of The Championship in Samorin, Slovakia in Sunday saw a third consecutive Pro win for Great Britain’s Lucy Charles, as reported separately HERE.
There was also some significant British interest in the Age-Group ranks too.
Highly competitive racing saw British athletes fill the top three positions overall in the women’s event, with Tara Grosvenor (30-34) improving on her second place 12 months ago in F25-29, to finish as the fastest female amateur on the day. That was actually her final race as an Age-Group athlete, having qualified for her Pro licence with strong performances at IRONMAN 70.3 Marbella and Challenge Heilbronn. She’ll be lining up at Challenge Roth next month.
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Just 75 seconds later, Ruth Purbrook (recently announced as part of the 2019 Zwift Academy team) followed. An Age-Group winner in both Samorin and Kona last year, she had to settle for second place this time around, but was still happy with her day after an early season impacted by a running injury.
Less than 30 seconds later, Katherine Renouf crossed the finish line to take the win in F25-29. The same trio (in a slightly different order!), were also the three fastest British Age-Groupers in Kona last year. Yes, this was quality racing with less than two minutes separating them.
The Age-Group speed charts were also topped by British men. First across the line was Brett Halliwell (M25-29) in a speedy 4:02:07.
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Gareth Hodgson (M30-34) was the second quickest amateur, less than a minute behind. Gareth was the top Age-Group athlete at IRONMAN Wales last year and finished second at the 2018 Outlaw Triathlon, having lead until the very late stages.
Joining Tara and Ruth in the “Also on the podium in Samorin last year too” club, was Mark Livesey (M45-49) and David Patten (M65-69). Both won in 2018 and they both topped the podium again. It was a close run (literally) thing for Mark, who won by just 11 seconds…
The full list of GB podium finishers is provided below – and you can find the detailed results HERE.
The Championship, Samorin, Slovakia – Sunday 2nd June 2019
1.9km / 90km / 21.1km
BRITISH AGE-GROUP PODIUMS
WOMEN
1st – F25-29 – Katherine Renouf – 4:31:05
1st – F30-34 – Tara Grosvenor – 4:29:22
2nd – F30-34 – Ruth Purbrook – 4:30:37
MEN
1st – M25-29 – Brett Halliwell – 4:02:07
1st – M30-34 – Gareth Hodgson – 4:02:56
1st – M45-49 – Mark Livesey – 4:16:16
1st – M55-59 – Roger Canham – 4:29:52
1st – M65-69 – David Patten – 5:10:16
2nd – M35-39 – Vanrisch Mclean – 4:09:24
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