PACTRAC's senior citizen is on top of the world once again

The sprightly Peterborough Triathlon Club (PACTRAC) member defied the odds to take the gold medal in her 70-74 age group at the World Championships in Rotterdam at the weekend.

She completed the sprint distance race of a 750-metre swim, 12.5-mile bike ride and three-mile run in 1.41.07 to win by 4.54 minutes and make it a full set of medals for 2017.

Earlier in the year she was crowned British champion in Strathclyde and European champion in Dusseldorf and it saw her go one better than last year at the World Championships when she took the silver medal in Mexico.

It was her second world title success - she won the 65-69 age group crown in Budapest in 2010 - and it came as a complete surprise as she revealed afterwards that injuiry had stopped her training in the weeks leading up the race and it was touch and go whether she’d even make it to the start line.

But despite the lack of training, Jennings excelled herself. She had the fastest swim and the fastest bike split and then held onto the top spot with the third fastest run.

The top 10 in each age group gained automatic entry into next year’s World Championships on the Gold Coast of Australia in September and Jennings wasn’t the only PACTRACer to qualify.

Simon Hoppe, one of three other PACTRAC members competing in Rotterdam, was 10th in the 45-49 age group in 1.08.35.

The other two PACTRAC representatives were Marcus Widdess (29th in the 20-24 age group in 1.10.04) and Steve Hope (46th in the 55-59 age group in 1.20.25).

Other PACTRAC results:

Sundowner Middle-distance Triathlon, Allerthorpe Lakeland Park (swim 1900m, bike 56.5 miles, run 13.1 miles): 231 Paul Jephcott 5:52:20 (AG 1); 234 Jonathan Arnold 5:53:43 (AG 1); 346 Wendy Coxshall 6:39:07 (AG 16).

Derby Triathon (swim 400m, bike 11.25 miles, run 3 miles): 126 Ros Goatly 1:14:12 (AG 2).

70.3 Santa Cruz, California (swim 750m, bike 56 miles, run 13.1 miles): 1566 Amy Hayes 6:30:35 (AG 55).

North Norfolk Triathlon, Wells-next-the-Sea (swim 1500m, bike 25 miles, run 6.25 miles): 107 Adrian Whitby 2:34:27; 115 Martin Etchells 2:35:36; 206 Christian Richards 2:55:32.

Stanwick Lakes Olympic distance triathlon (swim 1500m, bike 26 miles, run 6.25 miles): 6 Jaap Flikweert 2:19:31 (AG 1); 30 Stephen Comber 2:42:06 (AG 9).

Stanwick Lakes Sprint distance triathlon (swim 750, bike 14 miles, run 3 miles): 7 Robert Gibson 1:18:58 (AG 2).