A New Dawn for European Triathlon AG qualifiers in Eastbourne
The beautiful seaside town of Eastbourne was the perfect backdrop to welcome athletes back for the Eastbourne Triathlon on the Sunday 6th June 2021 for European and World Age-Group qualifier racing. Hundreds of athletes of all abilities and experience took on what is widely considered to be one of the most scenic and challenging triathlons in the country as many of the strong field of elite athletes competed for a place on the podium whilst others were having fun and raising money for charity.
The event was organised by the highly experienced triathletes Matthew Dowle and Dale Anderton with support from headline sponsor Eastbourne College. The Eastbourne Triathlon (by IronBourne Events Ltd), won the coveted Triathlon England Commercial Event of the Year Award back in 2019 and following the resounding success of the event the British Triathlon Federation was selected as the venue to host a Qualifier for the British Triathlon GB Age-Group Team for the 2022 European Championships in the standard distance race and the 2022 World Championships in the sprint distance.
Starting from the lifeguard’s beach, the triathletes took on an iconic route, swimming against the backdrop of the historic Eastbourne pier, cycling the roads through the South Downs National Park via Beachy Head and running on the iconic promenade to Holywell, before finishing on the Western Lawns.
Legends of Triathlon – ‘Two of our Own’ show how the ‘Bodyworks’
The Sprint
Starting with the sprint distance the participants took on a 750m swim, 18.3km cycle and a 5km run, it was members of the Aspire Squad from Eastbourne’s recognised British Triathlon Satellite Centre club Team Bodyworks who were to take the top podium spots in both the men’s and women’s sections.
In the men’s section it was young Hamish Reilly the 2019 British Triathlon Super Series Champion (Youth) and Junior European Cup Bronze medallist who was to take the win in a time of 01:00:12. Hamish recorded the quickest 750m swim time of 00:09:30 with also the best 18.3km cycle time of 00:30:57. However, it was his team-mate Morgan West who recorded the fastest 5k run finishing of 00:16:33 to run through to take second place in a time 01:00:57, both athletes over 3 minutes ahead of Matthew James who came home in a commendable time of 01:04:06 to take 3rd place .
In the women’s section it was the Aspire Squad of Team Bodyworks who dominated again with elite athlete Abi Bedwell, the first woman to finish with a time of 01:08:15 with fellow team-mate Daisy Burton taking 2nd place in 1:11:44 closely followed by Megan Ormiston of Medway-Tri taking the third podium spot.
The Standard Distance
Next up was one of the most challenging Standard Distance triathlons in the country. A 1500m swim against the iconic backdrop of Eastbourne pier, followed by 36.6km bike route with 680m (2240 feet) of climbing and a gruelling seafront 10km run. This was a race to sort the wheat from the chaff and an open event it proved to be.
In the men’s race the triumphant winner was Henry James of Weston Temp Endurance Team from Cheltenham who won with a time of 1:57.48 ahead of Dorset athlete Alex Woodman from Purbeck Tri Club, who completed the race in 02:01:16, and Jamie Bedwell from Eastbourne’s Team Bodyworks who finished with a time of 02:04:01.
It was Alex Woodman who exited the water first closely followed by Jamie Bedwell with Henry James on his tail. Woodman recorded the best cycle, in a time of 01:01:36 just ahead of James’s time of 01:02:31 with Bedwell slightly tailing off the pace in a time of 01:05:54. Onto the run it was Henry James running prowess that saw him to victory with an impressive 10k run in 00:33:37 with Woodman holding his own to take silver in a time of 00:37:44 with Bedwell making up lost ground with a strong run in 00:36:45 to take bronze.
In the women’s section the win went to Henritta Tarasewicz, racing in the Age-Group Caterogy 35-39. Henritta is a member of the Team Bodyworks club and it was her strong swimming exiting nearly six minutes ahead of the rest of the field that gave her first mover advantage as she headed onto the gruelling bike leg. It was here the cycling strength of Sweden’s Anna Bergsten came into play as she chased down the leader. Henritta came into transition first but her lead had been whittled down by Bergsten so it was all down to the final leg of the 10k run. Bergsten had not given up the chase and continued to narrow the gap between her and Henritta, but she ran out of distance as Tarasewicz crossed the in 2:16:51 with Bergsten a little under two minutes behind in 2:18:33 to take silver. Third place went to Rachel Nicholl in a time of 02:23:24 who in the 2019 European Championship was 4th in AG 30-34.
Full Sprint and Standard Distance race and category results can be found here.
With the local Eastbourne campus of the University of Brighton being Team Bodyworks main training site, the club invests heavily in performance mentoring and lifestyle support to help athletes, and their extended teams (including parents, schools, therapists, partners and sponsors), understand the pathway, the nature of performance and how to overcome the challenges involved. For more details on what Team Bodyworks Performance Triathlon can offer contact Stuart Wilkinson, Director & Performance Mentor by e-mailing: stuxtc@live.co.uk. Stuart has many years’ experience of talking through the Team Bodyworks programme and its suitability for athletes of all ages and ability.
