Pallant and Bowden dominate British Elite Duathlon Championships

Chief Correspondent

Ahead of the British Elite Duathlon Championships yesterday, we did ask of this preview on social media, “Can anyone challenge Emma Pallant on Sunday”. And of course, the resounding response was “No!”. Good reason for that too, as the two-time and reigning ITU World Duathlon Champion completely dominated the race yesterday, winning the 5km / 20km / 2.5km format by almost spot on three minutes. That is HUGE.

Only Rio 2016 Olympic 10,000m runner, Beth Potter, could give Emma any company over the opening 5km, at which point Emma took off solo and recorded a 31:56 bike split, which was more than a minute quicker than anyone else. Add in the fastest second run too = domination. Only a leisurely T2 prevented her from adding the fastest transitions too…

Classy Bowden takes the title

After a great 2017 season to date, defending champion Richard Horton was – perhaps – a narrow favourite going into this event,, but coming down with food poisoning on Friday all but ended his chances. While he did start, a distant 12th place wouldn’t appear to be a reflection of his form.

The opening run saw a small lead for Danny Russell and Adam Bowden (14:46 for the 5km), before another 13 athletes would reach their bikes within 15 seconds. On the bike, Bowden was joined by a returning to racing Mark Buckingham, plus an impressive Luke Pollard (RAF Triathlon) in a small breakaway group. That would be the decisive move of the day, as that trio would go on to complete the podium.

British Elite Duathlon Championships 2017
British Elite Duathlon Championships 2017

Bowden was a different class with a blistering second run to take the title, Buckingham can be more than happy with a Silver after missing so much running, while for Pollard that is surely his best result to date at this level of competition. A very content podium trio.

Adam of course is now both British Elite Duathlon and Triathlon Champion, having won at Tri Liverpool last year.

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Veterans dominate the Age-Group Championships

The Age-Group racing at Bedford was over the non-drafting, standard distance format – and experience won out!

The first man overall, Phil Melling (Greenlight PT), and women, Gill Fullen (Bedford Harriers), showed the youngsters a clean pair of heels – being in the 40-44 and 50-54 categories respectively. We will bring you more on Gill’s race later this week.

FULL RESULTS FROM BEDFORD

British Elite Duathlon Championships – Sunday9th April 2017
Bedford Aerodrome

SENIOR WOMEN

1st – Emma Pallant – 58:24
2nd – Bronwen Owen – 1:01:23
3rd – Georgina Schwiening – 1:02:02

SENIOR MEN

1st – Adam Bowden – 52:20
2nd – Mark Buckingham – 53:01
3rd – Luke Pollard – 53:22

JUNIOR WOMEN

1st – Kate Waugh – 1:01:39
2nd – Caitlin Roper – 1:03:33
3rd – Erin Wallace – 1:04:06

JUNIOR MEN

1st – Cameron Richardson – 53:58
2nd – Matthew Willis – 55:02
3rd – Josh Hendry – 55:05

YOUTH WOMEN

1st – Libby Coleman – 33:51
2nd – Isabel Atkins – 33:58
3rd – Freya Thompson – 34:03

YOUTH MEN

1st – Connor Bentley – 29:01
2nd – Daniel Dixon – 29:07
3rd – Reuben Mantle – 29:24

British Age-Group Duathlon Championships – Sunday9th April 2017
Bedford Aerodrome – 10km / 39km / 5km (Non-Drafting)

TOP FIVE OVERALL – WOMEN

1st – Gill Fullen (Bedford Harriers) – 2:01:47 (50-54)
2nd – Katherine Renouf (TWTC) – 2:05:57 (25-29)
3rd – Joanna Wright (Farnham Tri Club) – 2:07:40 (25-29)
4th – Genia Marek – 2:08:19 (30-34)
5th – Davina Greenwell (Hadleigh Hares) – 2:09:46 (30-34)

TOP FIVE OVERALL – MEN

1st – Phil Melling (Greenlight PT) – 1:45:31 (40-44)
2nd – James Phillips (9 Endurance Tri Club) – 1:46:02 (20-24)
3rd – Richard Anderson (RedVenom.co.uk) – 1:49:58 (25-29)
4th – Hugh Mackenzie (Pro-VO2) – 1:50:27 (35-39)
5th – Peter Ellis (Royal Air Force Tri) – 1:50:41 (30-34)

British ParaDuathlon Championships – Sunday 9th April 2017
Bedford Aerodrome – 5km / 20km / 2.5km

Full results HERE.

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