Morpeth Harrier Dixon 12th in Commonwealth Games Triathlon

Held in the hilly grounds of Sutton Park, a few miles North of Birmingham, there were huge numbers out on the course to support, and Team England saw immediate success on the first day of competition with a thrilling win for Olympic Silver medallist Alex Yee in an overall time of 50 minutes 34 seconds.

Yee’s win was hard fought, and one Dan significantly helped contribute to. A fine swim by him saw him 4th out of the water and in contention with the lead group that included New Zealander Hayden Wilde, who led the competition for all but the last kilometre of the run, incurring a 10 second time penalty to frustrate any chance of holding off Yee.

Dixon meanwhile focussed his efforts, along with fellow Team England triathlete Sam Dickionson, on supporting Yee on the bike and limiting time losses to the leading group. Taking the lead several times at the front of the chasing group, his efforts meant Yee went into the T2 transition to the run still in contention for a medal.

Thereafter, Dan was able to focus on his own 5k run, which he completed in a time of 15 minutes 54 seconds, finishing overall just outside the top ten in 12th place in 52 minutes 02 seconds as second placed English triathlete, ahead of Dickinson, who finished in 19th place.

Yee was later hugely grateful to both Dixon and Dickinson for their efforts on the bike, saying:, ‘They were immense. Those guys worked super-hard for me.’

Dan himself later commented: ‘The main thing is we came here for a medal as a team and we got it. That was absolutely the key goal. The aim was to bring Alex towards the front as much as possible. We did a cracking job in the end. It was great.’