Bowden and Schwiening take British Elite Duathlon Championship titles

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Adam Bowden British Elite Duathlon Championships 2018
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Winner of the same event last year**, Adam Bowden showed his class at Sunday’s British Elite Duathlon Championship at Bedford Aerodrome to defend his title. Part of a lead group reaching T2 in close order, Bowden – who a achieved a career best in WTS racing when finishing fourth in Leeds last year – was in a different league on the second run, coming home with a significant lead of 39 seconds.

(** Note, the 2018 edition was over a 5km / 20km / 2.5km format, the second run this year was extended to 5km)

The opening 5km saw Bowden lead a group of seven into T1 via swift opening 14:30 split, with Morgan Davis, 2016 champion Richard Horton, Sam Pictor Thomas Crouch, Danny Russell and James Teagle in close order.

Some powerful cycling from 2017 Bronze medallist Luke Pollard and Sam Wade among others, saw a few athletes able to bridge back to the leaders over the 5km, David Bishop, Deri Stewart and Lewis Timmins among them. Bowden (15:41) proved to be in a different league on the second run though, with Morgan Davies (16:19) and James Teagle (16:17) having a close battle for the Silver and Bronze, ahead of Bishop in fourth and Sam Pictor fifth.

In the weekend preview I’d mentioned the prospect of seeing iron-distance specialist Lucy Gossage racing, having won this title six years ago. Unfortunately a minor running niggle meant that she wasn’t able to start.

The opening run saw Georgina Schwiening pull clear to a T1 lead of 25 seconds following an opening 17:02 5km split. Laura Smith (recent winner of the Yellow Jersey Scholarship), was next, as ten athletes were under 18 minutes for the first run.

Not surprisingly, Schwiening couldn’t hold that gap on her own through the flat 20km bike leg, and Julie Nimmo, Hannah Drewett, Rebecca Storie, Suzie Richards, Olivia Matthews and Laura Smith were able to remove their first discipline deficit, with just the final 5km remaining. Nimmo recorded the fastest split of the day (30:40) to start the second run in first place.

As with the Elite men’s race, the closing 5km was crucial and Schwiening (a 2:42 marathon runner) had the pedigree to pull clear again, finishing her day with an 18:56 second run which was enough to catch and pass Nimmo to take the win. Nimmo ran strong despite her bike efforts, while Laura Smith was thrilled to earn the Bronze.

BrItish Elite Duathlon Championships – Bedford Autodrome, Sunday 25th March 2018
5km / 20km / 5km – Draft Legal

SENIOR MEN

1st – Adam Bowden – 59:01
2nd – Morgan Davies (Aim2Tri) – 59:40
3rd – James Teagle (Loughborough Triathlon) – 59:42
4th – David Bishop (HUUB Academy) – 1:00:02
5th – Sam Pictor (BAD Tri) – 1:00:09

SENIOR WOMEN

1st – Georgina Schwiening – 1:08:38
2nd – Julie Nimmo (Grangemouth Triathlon Club) – 1:09:12
3rd – Laura Smith (BRAT) – 1:10:00
4th – Olivia Matthews (Clapham Chasers) – 1:10:14
5th – Hannah Drewett (Pedalcover Insurance Tri) – 1:10:18

JUNIOR MEN

1st – Matthew Willis (Chester Tri Club) – 51:37
2nd – Connor Bentley – 52:23
3rd – Guy Evans Haggerty – 52:26

JUNIOR WOMEN

1st – Almaz Nerurkar (Bodyworks XTC) – 59:01
2nd – Fraya Thomson – 59:03
3rd – Lucy Byram (Holmfirth Harriers) – 59:38

BrItish Elite Duathlon Championships – Bedford Autodrome, Sunday 25th March 2018
2.5km / 10km / 1.5km – Draft Legal

YOUTH MEN

1st – Daniel Dixon (Ryton Tri Club) – 27:33
2nd – Joseph Martin (Bodyworks XTC) – 27:43
3rd – Hamish Reilly (Ocean Lake Tri) – 27:52

YOUTH WOMEN

1st – Elsbeth Grant – 30:38
2nd – Lily Jane Evans Haggerty – 30:42
3rd – Kate Richardson – 30:46