Alnwick triathletes compete in Valencia

Having qualified to race back in the summer of 2019, Alnwick & District Triathlon Club members Tania Conway and Tracey Sample travelled to Valencia, Spain, to race in the Age Group Sprint race. Both compete in the 50-54 Age Group.

The 750m swim was held in the harbour, but with the water temperature at a balmy 26 degrees, wetsuits were not allowed. Social distancing meant the start was changed from everyone going off together to a time trial format where one person started every three seconds with a dive start from a pontoon 1.5m above the surface of the sea, just as the sun was coming up over the marina.

The 20km bike was a very technical course with lots of tight corners and dead turns. This suited both Conway and Sample, who have good bike handling skills and have worked hard to improved their respective bike speeds over the last two years.

Onto the 5km run on flat paths around the marina and unfortunately Conway was carrying a knee injury. She still held off most of her competitors to finish a very determined 24th place in a time of 1 hr 28 min 09 sec. Sample, who the previous week had just run her fastest Parkrun in 3 years, ran through to take 11th place finishing in a fantastic time of 1 hr 16 min 23 sec.