PACTRAC stars are among the best triathletes in the country

Hughes was 28th after competing in all five rounds of the series prior to the final and improved his finishing position sightly thanks to a strong performance at Mallory Park.

The format for the final was a duathlon covering a 1.4 mile run, 15-mile bike and a further 3.1-mile run.

Hughes was place in heat two and was 13th after the first run. He then had the seventh fastest bike split of his heat to move up to 10th place for the start of the second run.

Hughes then put a lot of effort into trying to catch the group in front and that took its toll as he settled for 11th place with a 17:32 minute final 3.1-mile run.

Over the two heats Tom was 25th, to consolidate his position in the series amongst the best juniors in the country.

Tom Hughes splits .... 7:26 .... 33:44 .... 17:32 ..= 58:42.

The Inter-Regional Championships also took place at the same Mallory Park venue, for 11-14 year olds. Each region had four representatives with Ophelia Goodale taking one of the four slots for the East Midlands Region in the 11-12 year category. The event was also run as a duathlon (run, bike, run).

Ophelia came second overall in her heat to go into the final where she finished sixth overall.

In the heat, Ophelia took a very slim lead on the bike, and a well-paced run saw her come home second by just two seconds.

Despite an eight-second overall improvement in the final, Ophelia finished sixtth in a tightly fought race to cement her place as one of the top 11-12 year olds in the country.

In the accompanying junior duathlon, Phoebe Goodale finished 47th overall and ninth in the Youth B Category.