Over 2,500 triathletes lined up at the crack of dawn on Sunday to take to the Thames for the 20th running of Nokia WIndsor Triathlon.
Despite tough competition throughout the elite women’s race it was firm favourite Vanessa Raw whose impressive run saw her pull away from the chasing field on the second lap, to secure her victory in a time of 02h:03m:43s.
From the outset there was a tight group of six athletes with Vanessa, including Irish triathletes Jacqui Slack and Emma Davis, as well as Lucy Chittenden, Amy Wolf and Lois Rosindale who all worked hard together on the bike.
However all eyes were on 20 year old Lois Rosindale, who having won the Sprint race in 2008, produced a superb performance to cross the finish line in second place in 02h:04m:21s. Astonishingly this was only the second time that Lois had competed in an Olympic drafting race. “I’m really happy” Lois said, “I had a great bike and was able to hang onto the pack and then pushed really hard on the run. I love this event and will definintely come back.”
Meanwhile Jacqui Slack who is currently holding 1st place in the British Super Series of which the Nokia Windsor Triathlon is the 3rd of five races, had a very solid performance holding third place throughout to finish in 02h:05m:32s which should see her retain pole position in the Series.
The men’s race was equally closely contested. Mike Adams was first out of the swim and headed off onto the bike course with a 25 second lead over the first chasing pack, which included Marc Jenkins, Gavin Noble, Tom Bishop and Daniel Halksworth.
A second pack was made up of returning 2002 Champion Richard Allen, Steve Worthington, David Anderson and Tom Curtis, whose efforts to chase them down paid off, leaving everything to play for on the run.
Steve Worthington performed a perfect transition and headed off on the run in first place. With Marc Jenkins, Tom Bishop, Gavin Noble and Daniel Halksworth hot on his heels, Worthington prodcued a blistering run, eventually pulling away on the 3rd lap to finish in a time of 01h:53m:31s. Marc Jenkins and Gavin Noble finished within 50 seconds behind in 2nd and 3rd place in a time of 01h:54m:03s and 01:54m:17s respectively.
Amongst the sell out field who completed the Olympic distance (1500m swim/42k bike/10K run) was oldest competitor Daphne Belt, who at the age of 71, is still an inspiration to triathlon. Having only taken up the sport less than 20 years ago, she completed the race in 3:25:56.
The youngest competitor of the day was Sky Draper, who despite a recent bike accident while out training on the Windsor course, demonstrated her outstanding talent by not only competing but winning the Sprint category (750m / 30km / 5km) at the tender age of 14, in a time of 1:22:44.
For full race results visit www.humanrace.co.uk. The event will be broadcast on Channel 4 (provisionally scheduled on 3rd July at 8am). Look to issue 250 of 220 triathlon for a full race report.
