Royle comes from ‘down under’ to win 2XU Challenge Wales
The brand-new Challenge Wales event in association with 2XU was won by Australian Olympian Aaron Royle with Britain’s Lucy Byram winning the women’s race.
The 2XU Challenge Wales was hosted by the 70.3 Wales Triathlon course which has been established in Fishguard for the past 8 years The middle-distance race along Pembrokeshire’s spectacular coastline, is a race course that is already recognised as one of the best in the UK.
The 1.9km swim took place in Fishguard Bay which is protected by a breakwater on both sides. The two-lap swim enabled swimmers to exit the water to large crowds before re-entering the water for a second and final lap.
In the men’s swim it was Royle along with the Brits of Tom Bishop and Joe Lewis who exited the water first. Whilst in the women’s swim Lucy Byram came out 3rd but it was difficult to see at that stage who might make the inroads in the race.
And it was they who began to set the pace for the respective bike sections. The 90km bike began with a steady 5km ascent before a fast section all the way to the country’s smallest city, St David’s, with its enthusiastic spectator support. Leaving St David’s to stunning sea views of the Atlantic Ocean before climbing into Trefin and Mathry and back to the city of St David’s before returning to T2.
The biking power of Jack Hutchins, Harry Palmer, Tomas Davis and Sam Wade saw them entered T2 alongside Royle, Bishop and Lewis with less than 60 seconds dividing them at the exited T2 for the long and arduous run.
In the women’s bike section a group of around six athletes started to make their intentions clear with Megan McDonald, Laura Addie and Byram laying down the marker as these three headed in to T2 with nothing between them.
The scenic four-lap 21.2km was run along a paved coastal track that included the town’s breakwater with breath-taking sea views.
The Australian Olympian seemed to have the legs to contest the podiums as well as Bishop, Lewis, Hutchins and Palmer. On the second lap the Aussie took and maintained the lead from Bishop and on the last lap was able to hold off the fast-approaching Hutchins and Palmer as he crossed the winning tape in a time of 03:51:48. Hutchins came home second to take silver with Palmer coming in third to take the bronze.
It was Lucy Bryam in the women’s run who took command by lap 2 and never looked like surrendering her lead to the chasing pack. And that was the case as she stretched away and crossed the winning line a clear leader in a time of 04:26:59 over 10 minutes ahead of second placed Laura Addie taking silver with third place and bronze going to Megan McDonald. Big shout out Addie and McDonald two age-groupers who outwitted the rest of the Pros in the race on a very challenging and tactical race circuit.
Full results can be found here:
