Rising triathlon star Olivia Mathias underlined she’s in fine running form ahead of the new swim / bike / run campaign with a clear-cut victory in the Midland Counties Cross Country Championships at Mallory Park, Leicestershire, over the weekend.

Mathias, racing for Newark AC, has kept things ticking over nicely in the XC sphere over winter and was runner-up in the Leicestershire XC County Championship earlier in January.

That day the race was won by Gemma Steel of Charnwood AC, with none other than IRONMAN Pro Series champion Kat Matthews in third.

Calm after the storm

There was no Matthews this time – the Inter-Counties in March could be on her agenda – but defending champion Steel was again in opposition in an event which featured athletes from 10 counties in total – Avon, Gloucestershire, Herefordshire, Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire and Worcestershire.

This time though Mathias dominated the senior women’s race from start to finish over the five-mile course in what were surprisingly good conditions as Storm Éowyn, which caused devastation across much of the UK, had moved through.

Loughborough-based Mathias powered clear from the start, with Steel, Rosie Hamilton-Jones and Hannah Seager the only athletes able to keep close to the pace.

But Mathias, who has taken part in plenty of triathlons at Mallory Park, kicked clear some way from home and crossed the line in 24 minutes and 42 seconds, more than half a minute clear of the rest.

Steel rallied late on for second in 25:23, with Hamilton-Jones third in 25:43.

On the up

The 26-year-old Mathias has made her mark on some of short-course triathlons biggest stages in recent years.

In 2022 she was part of the Wales Mixed Relay team which won silver at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.

And last year she was runner-up to Olympic Mixed Relay gold medallist Lisa Tertsch at the World Triathlon Cup Valencia as well as notching a series of strong results as she finished seventh in the overall supertri standings behind Georgia Taylor-Brown.

And on hand to watch Mathias’ victory at Mallory Park was partner Alex Yee, the men’s Olympic and world champion who is taking a break from triathlon to focus on his 26.2-mile debut at the London Marathon in April.