Winter triathlon delivers silver in the snow

With only two days to go until the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games, the British Triathlon GB Age Group Team delivered its own success on snow, winning two Age Group medals at the 2010 Lygna ETU Winter Triathlon European Championships on Sunday 7 February.



The two medals included silver for Tom Phillips in the male 40-44 Age Group, and silver for British Triathlon’s very own President, Sarah Springman in the female 50-54 category.



The third and final member of the team, Stephen Gray did exceptionally well on a tough course, finishing a credible fifth in the 45-49 Age Group.



Jem Lawson, Secretary General of European Triathlon Union commented: "Lygna, in Norway, played host to a successful ETU Winter Triathlon Championships last weekend. There was a high standard of elite competition with the men's event proving particularly competitive. It was only disappointing that more countries did not take part, but those that did provided a colourful and entertaining spectacle.”



Sarah was delighted with the team’s performance commenting: “The 2010 Lygna ETU Winter Triathlon European Championships was a great success, with perfect conditions, excellent organisation by the Norwegian Triathlon Federation, and some impressive athletes competing across the elite and Age Group categories. That British Age Group athletes won two silver medals is a great start to the year and it was both challenging and fun to boot. There must be many more summer triathletes who could make the conversion to winter triathlon and we hope to see them racing on snow in the future.



“As National Olympic Committee member for triathlon, I would also like to add British Triathlon’s best wishes to all the Winter Olympians to achieve their lifetime best performances in the forthcoming Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. We invite some of them to discover another really tough and exciting winter sport, and to join our elite team at the ETU European and ITU World Winter Triathlon Championships next year!”