Just a day after Alistair Brownlee was confirmed for the Helvellyn Triathlon, OSB events have now announced that another British ITU world champion and Olympian, Tim Don, will be on start line of the Outlaw X in September.
The North Nottinghamshire event will be held at Thoresby Park on 27 September. The middle-distance race will also welcome multiple pro athletes, including Don’s fellow Olympian Lucy Hall and ITU/70.3 athlete Adam Bowden.
The organisers are projecting the Outlaw X to have the strongest field ever assembled at an Outlaw event. Returning champion, Simon George, will wear race number 1 and be the first to start the race, which is running in time-trial format.
He’ll be closely followed by Andy Horsfall-Turner, Reece Barclay, Adam Bowden and Tim Don. Also in the field will be local athletes Tom Davis and Jimmy Kershaw, Kona age-grouper Lewis Eccleston, pro athlete Will Munday and Will Cowen, who was second behind Will Clarke at Outlaw Half Holkham last year.
RETURN OF THE DON
It will be a rare chance to see the 220 columnist and UK tri legend, Don, 42, race on UK soil. The Brit has mastered all distances from being ITU World Champion in 2006 to an Ironman world record breaker in 2017. Bowden, a ITU stalwart for many years, now successfully focuses on middle-distance events and has a best time of 3:40:11 over the distance.
The women’s race looks to be a double header between Lucy Hall and Ruth Astle, but there are other strong female athletes including last year’s runner up Hannah Peel. Hall will start up front with the leading men. Such is the strength of her swimming; she could be well out of sight of the other women for a significant part of the race, but Astle was recently third at the National 100mile TT event and will be on the hunt during the one-lap, 56mile course.
Outlaw X takes place at Thoresby Park in North Nottinghamshire, a location ideal for social distancing with a vast expanse of beautiful open parkland. Athletes will start individually between 7:10am and approximately 9:10am, meaning that everyone is spread out over the course.
Event director Iain Hamilton said: “It’s a pleasure to be hosting some of the best middle and long-distance athletes in the world, but also to be able to get our race crew back together and put an event on for people after a challenging season.
“We have a month to go and are planning for a safe and successful event. I don’t want to get too excited as we have learnt this year that anything can happen, but everything is in place and we’re keeping in close contact with local and national agencies.”
As well as the top athletes aiming for the course record bonus pot of £1500, there are athletes raising money for the event’s official charities, Cancer Research UK and Alzheimer’s Research UK.
There are three men taking part that have done every Outlaw and every Outlaw Half event since the Series was launched in 2010. Gary Goacher, Graham Yare and David Manning-Ohren are back for their 23rd Outlaw starts.
Outlaw X is sold out, although it’s still possible to get a charity place for the next few days. For more information, visit www.outlawtriathlon.com. Entries for the Outlaw Triathlon Series 2021 will open in October.
