Ophelia outclasses a huge field, first open win for Adam, locals qualify for Istanbul race

​PACTRAC saw 14 seniors and 13 juniors in action and, while there was a predictable success for prolific winner Adam Clark in the main sprint triathlon, he was overshadowed by Goodale’s victory in an 86-athlete field in the Tristar 1 event for 9-10 year-olds.

She was equal third coming out of the water, just eight seconds off the lead, but grabbed first place in transition and shot 23 seconds clear after the bike leg with only two athletes within a minute of her. She extended her lead on the run to win by an impressive 35 seconds.

The distances for youngsters in this triathlon were: 150m swim, 2km cycle and 1,200m run. Goodale’s split times were 3:01, 7:06 and 5:25 for an overall time of 15:32.

The PACTRAC Juniors train fortnightly on a Sunday at Stanground Academy on Peterborough Road with the next session this weekend, August 25 (11am-1pm). Young athletes from ages 6-16 can join in with these fun sessions by signing up at https://pactrac.clubpal.app with sessions currently free of charge.

Other PACTRAC junior results...

8 year-olds (50m swim, 800m cycle, 600m run): 16th Byron Stother 10:53, 17th Mordy Smith 10:56, 27th Jack Dundee 11:44, 29th Thomas Moys 11:53, 30th Imogen Lazenby 11:58, 37the Orla Caskey 13:21.

11-12 year-olds (200m swim, 4km cycle, 1,800m run): 23rd Beatrice Faith 26:10, 44th Bentley Anthony 27:48, 51st Hugo Flikweert 28:59, 66th George Mansergh 30:44, 78th India Lazenby 32:41.

15-16 year-olds (400m swim, 10km bike, 2.5km run): 14th: Phoebe Goodale 41:29.

Clark claimed his first open win of the season to retain his Oundle Triathlon crown.

Clark took a six-second lead from the swim with third place already 43 seconds down. He held on to a slender lead on the tricky bike section, coming in with just a seven-second advantage; but a quick transition and a strong run saw the lead extend to 30 seconds by the finish.

Clark finished the 600m swim, 16-mile bike and 3.1 mile run in 66.23.

Age group wins were also recorded by Phil Groves (fifth overall, 75.26), Steve Hope (14th, 85.11), Gill Bates (83rd, 2.04.03) and Georgina Jennings (86th, 2.14.04).

Verity Miles was second overall in the Aquabike Sprint (swim 600m, bike 16 miles), which was also an age group success, in 62.45.

Sophie Greville-Heygate was another age group winner in the Super Sprint Triathlon (swim 300m, bike 8 miles, run 1.5 miles) and second overall in 60:43. She was 12th overall, two places behind Steph Fordham whose time of 55:03 was good for second place in her age group.

BRITISH CHAMPIONSHIPS

The British Sprint Championship at Mallory Park was also a qualifying race for next year’s European Sprint Championship in Istanbul.

Susie Freeman finished fourth in her age group, while Mark Weathersby was fifth and Simon Hoppe sixth, but all qualified for Istanbul as did Peterborough man Don Hutchinson.

Hoppe was jut 41 seconds off a podium place.