Outlaw Triathlon 2021: Horsfall-Turner nets bonus, Hickson stars

Andrew Horsfall-Turner and Kerry Hickson claimed fine victories at the 2021 edition of the Outlaw Triathlon in Nottingham on Sunday.

Horsfall-Turner, second at Outlaw Half Nottingham last month, smashed the course record in the process here and claimed that £3000 bonus to make the win all the sweeter. His time of 8:26:27 was more than 13 minutes faster than the previous mark of 8:39:37 set by Kit Walker in 2017.

Hickson didn’t manage to lower the women’s course record, but she did produce an excellent personal best of 9:31:40 – inside 10 hours for the first time and just under half an hour faster than her previous best at IRONMAN Cozumel in 2019.

Men – Horsfall-Turner pours it on

Horsfall-Turner, who is now eligible for a pro licence courtesy of that display in Nottingham last month, will race Kona as an age-grouper in October before stepping up to the pro division in 2022. And he showed his wellbeing here with a dominant performance.

A 48:04 swim was enough to give Andrew an advantage of more than five minutes over Kit Walker, winner here in 2016 and 2017.

Horsfall-Turner was also dominant on the bike as he clocked a split of 4:27:08 – again the best of the day. That was good enough to see him extend his overall advantage over Walker to more than 10 minutes.

A marathon of 3:03:35 was good enough to see that course record fall, and with it the bonus payment to Horsfall-Turner. His eventual winning margin was more than nine minutes from Ian Dempsey, who overtook Walker for second with a 2:56:41 marathon split.

Walker hung on for third, while Robert Fryer was a couple of minutes further back in fourth and Daniel Anderton claimed fifth.

Women – it’s Kerry all the way

Just as Horsfall-Turner did, Hickson led from gun to tape with a confident performance. She began with a 55:30 swim which saw her leave the water more than 6 minutes ahead of a chasing pack led by Michelle Wilcocks.

Claire Weller (4:53:19) and Rebecca Duxbury (4:57:09) moved into second and third respectively after cutting into Hickson’s advantage on the bike leg – the leader put in a 5:00:23.

Kerry reasserted her dominance on the run though, completing the marathon in a time of 3:24:56 – the best split of the day. Duxbury (3:29:53) overtook Weller (3:36:09) on the run as they claimed second and third respectively.