How Great Britain's top triathletes become national champs
The Countryside Properties Salford Triathlon is the only ITU World Cup race held in the UK and the 2005 event was the third to be held in Salford, the home of world-class triathlon in the UK. The event welcomed 150 of the world’s top athletes from around the globe as well as nearly 1000 of the UK’s top amateur age group athletes.
Tim Don returned as the national champion and once again showed his superiority and resolve fending off a large chasing pack to finish as top British athlete and overall third in the men’s race. The twenty-seven year old from Loughborough commented: “The competition was fierce and I’m proud to have taken third place, making this my fifth medal win in 2005 so far.
"It was wonderful to race in Salford again this year – The Quays provides a fantastic backdrop to the event and the crowds were as encouraging as ever. The age group races made an important start to a wonderful day.”
Close behind Tim was 2003 Salford Triathlon ITU World Cup winner Andrew Johns who took silver and 2004 ITU World Cup Silver medalist Stuart Hayes taking the bronze medal.
Liz Blatchford won both the World Cup and the National Championship for the women, storming to victory in front of her home crowd.
Dominating the race from the start Liz took the challenge to the rest of the field and showed her strength on the run holding off top GB and international athletes. Liz comments: “I am ecstatic to have won at Salford. It’s a fantastic event and the home crowd certainly helped me along.”
Newcomer and debutant to the World Cup scene Helen Tucker ran the race of her life winning a silver medal at the national championships and another strong performance by former world champion Leanda Cave saw her take bronze medal.
The national championships are the qualifiers for the world championships in Gamagori in Japan in September. The British athletes that are guaranteed qualification after the Salford event are Tim Don, Andrew Johns and Stuart Heyes for the men’s teams, and Liz Blatchford, Helen Tucker, Leanda Cave, Helen Lawrence, and Michelle Dillon for the women’s team.
This page was last updated on 05 August 2005
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