The second edition of the Mallorca 140.6 Triathlon returned to the north of the island on the weekend and saw some fantastic racing despite challenging conditions.
With two races on the agenda, both the full distance and a middle-distance event, it was set to be an exciting day of racing, but things didn’t entirely go to plan.
Organisers had to take the decision to cancel the swim due to safety reasons, with electrical storms forecast and dangerous sea conditions proving too much.
It meant the race began with the 180km bike leg, which started out from Playa de Muro and largely avoided the infamous mountain roads found in the island’s north-west.
The result was a fast two-lap course with just 714m of elevation gain for full-distance competitors and half that for the middle-distance athletes.
There was drama on the bike too, with several Spanish athletes among the favourites having to pull out due to crashes.
After T2 the 140.6 competitors faced six 7km loops on a flat course near the coast. It’s here that Swedish triathlete Martin Strandlind took the initiative and led the race to the finish line, crossing it in 7:37:16.
That time put him almost 25mins ahead of Span’s Carlos Aznar, who’d put in a fantastic effort to take second place after suffering a fall during the bike. Polish athlete Kacper Adam finished in third place after a solid marathon through the streets of Muro.
In women category, Spanish athlete Esmeralda Mari debuted in the distance with victory in 10:30:35, leading the race from start to finish at the Playa de Muro Town Hall. Britain’s very own Catherine Townsend was second (11:13:50), and Clara Llorens was third (11:23:30).
In the half distance German athlete Alina Würth and the Belgian athlete Michael Van Cleven took the win. Würth managed to outrun Dutch athlete Claudia Striekwold, second classified and pre-race favorite, to stop the clock in 4:19:28.
Meanwhile, Van Cleven took the tape in 3:44:30, having returned to competition after a few years recovering from a bicycle accident he was involved in while participating in the Triathlon de Portocolom, where he’s won four times.
The organisation has pro prize purse that add up to a total of €10,000.
The Mallorca 140.6 Triathlon is organised by Kumulus, with the support of the Playa de Muro City Council, the Tourism Strategy Agency of the Balearic Islands and the Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan of the Government of Spain.
Top image credit: Rafa Babot/Mallorca 140.6 Triathlon