Becs beats Ironman Triathlon personal best by 21 minutes to qualify for World Championship race in Hawaii
PACTRAC’s Becs Burge and Nathan Keir took part in the inaugural Ironman Triathlon in Leeds.
This saw athletes take on a 2.4 mile lake swim in Roundhay Park, just three miles from Leeds City Centre. They then embarked on a tough 112-mile bike course that went up into the Yorkshire Dales National Park with approximately 2,500m of elevation. Finally, there was a 26.2-mile run on a four-lap course around Roundhay Park.
Becs Burge was 6th in her age group after the swim, but had the fastest transition, and with the fastest 112-mile bike section, she moved into the lead coming into T2 and heading out onto the marathon run.
She ran well, but came up against some stiff competition and finished in 12 hours and 17 minutes for 5th place and just 3:42 from a Podium position. Nevertheless this was an Ironman personal best by over 21 minutes and was enough to earn her a qualifying slot for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii in October.
Keir finished in 4:51:55.
The Outlaw Triathlon took place at Nottingham over the full Ironman distance and PACTRAC’s Mark Bedford was in good shape going into the race, but a tough run meant he missed his PB by 4 minutes. Bedford had the 9th fastest bike split in his age group, and recorded a time of under 12 hours for just the second time.
Chris Elder of PACTRAC came 12th overall in the ‘On The Edge’ Triathlon in Warwickshire, over a challenging 1.2 mile open-water swim in Compton Pools, a rolling 56-mile bike leg through the Cotswolds, and a 13.1 mile countryside run. Elder finished in 5:26:25.