A return to the winners list for London Olympian Brendan Sexton highlighted a successful weekend for Australia’s triathletes in Europe.
Sexton broke through for his first victory in 18 months to win the British Triathlon Sprint Championship (750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run) in Liverpool.
And he had to run down training partner and “comeback kid”, Aaron Royle, who three weeks ago was laid up in a Spanish Hospital, his season very much on the line – to give Australia a winning quinella.
Then in the women’s race it was a stunning “catch me in you can” victory to Sexton’s girlfriend Charlotte McShane who also added the British title to give Australia the double.
Over in the Spain their Wollongong Wizards team mate Tamsyn Moana-Veale claimed her first ever ITU World Cup podium – taking out a close-up bronze in hot, oppressive conditions in Palamos.
Rounding off the results was a top ten finish to another Wollongong-based athlete – Ben Allen, who claimed eighth place in the ITU World Cross Triathlon Championship in The Hague- Kijkduin, in the Netherlands.
Sexton, who will be one of six Australian men in this weekend’s ITU World Championship Series round in Hamburg, was delighted with his return to the winners circle.
‘It has been a long time between race wins for me and after some frustrating times this is more refreshing evidence that I’m again moving towards my lofty goals,” Sexton said.
“The next big step of course will be in Hamburg in five days time for my first ITU WCS event of the year and I’ll admit I’m more than excited to be back mixing it with the best.”
After exciting the water further back than he expected, Sexton admitted he had to give his younger rivals a little friendly encouragement to ensure “a productive group effort” in the second bike pack as they worked together to hunt down the leaders.
“The younger boys were extremely responsive…and by the end of the 20km bike leg we had whittled the gap down to less than 15 seconds by the transition into the run,” he said.
“I caught Aaron (Royle) with around three kilometres to go and I was able to feed off the enthusiastic crowd to extend my lead towards the finish.”
Royle was determined to leave nothing on the road after his remarkable recovery from pneumonia and an abscess on his lung caused by two nasty bacterial infections and in typical fashion was fourth out of the water and then fought back to grab second place towards the finish.
“I wanted to race Liverpool just like I would any other race, which is going hard from start to finish,” said Royle.
“I didn’t want to save energy here or there knowing that I may not be in top shape; I needed this race to kick-start the body back into racing and I was feeling a little sore and tired after completing my first week with intensity since being released from hospital.
“More than anything I just wanted to push myself over the entire race . I was pretty spent but content that I had done what I set out to do and that was to make the race as hard as possible for myself, despite feeling ordinary in all three disciplines.
“I don’t think I have ever started a run feeling so awful. It felt as though I was running through quicksand with a heart rate of 300, but it soon settled down after one kilometre and I was able to get into a rhythm.
““It was the perfect race to test myself over the sprint distance before next week’s big race in Hamburg.”
MCSHANE FLIES THE AUSSIE FLAG TOΟ
The women’s race was also a perfect Hamburg hit out for Charlottle McShane, who has had her most consistent season as she carves her career on the ITU circuit.
McShane went into the race aiming to have a really good swim and said she couldn’t have been happier.
“I got myself into second position within the first 200m behind British junior Sophie Coldwell and a decent gap opened up behind me to the rest of the field and hanging as close to Sophie as I could our lead had grown when I exited the water just shy of the front.
“It was clear to both Sophie and I that neither of us wanted to hang around and we quickly got to work attempting to extend the difference over the large pack behind us.
“Being vastly outnumbered by some motivated chasers we managed to stay off the front for two of the four laps before eventually being caught and becoming part of a larger lead bunch.
“From there I just tried to stay towards the front – the safest place to be, particularly on a somewhat technical course.
“I led out of bike/run transition and to be honest I felt pretty terrible for the first 2km or so. I knew there were a couple of strong runners there, including former X-country runner Emma Pallant who is currently leading the (British) series.
“We ran side by side until the three kilometre mark when I decided to make a move and step outside my comfort zone.
“I felt a slight gap open and didn’t look back for the rest of the run continuing to push into my next level until I ran into the finish tape with a 40 second advantage.
“I am really happy with how my race went. I approached the race with some clear goals and I definitely felt like I achieved them all, a huge positive going into Hamburg ITU World Series next weekend!”
BRONZE BREAKTHROUGH FOR MOANA-VEALE IN WORLD CUP
Over in Spain it was Tamsyn Moana-Veale who produced a determined final 10km run to claim her first ever ITU World Cup podium over the Olympic distance.
After Moana-Veale had run down all but one of the leading group but it was the Italian Annamaria Mazzetti who struck just at the last moment, sprinting past Moana-Veale in the final metres for silver and leaving the Australian girl with the bronze after the USA’s Katie Hursey had put together an outstanding race to claim victory.
Other Australians were also well placed with Felicity Sheedy-Ryan 8th, Natalie Van Coevorden 10th, Grace Musgrove 14th and Ellie Salthouse 30th.
Moana-Veale said she started off with a good swim, making up some ground on the second of a two-lap swim to ensure she was well within the main pack.
“Once on the bike, the hilly and technical course provided an amazing race, probably one of my favourite bike courses to date,” said Moana-Veal, who thrived in the hot, oppressive conditions.
“I learnt lessons early on with my positioning and soon found myself comfortable and riding ‘smarter’.
“I began the run around 90 seconds down on a breakaway of four athletes but felt strong early on, so decided to hunt the breakaway athletes down, one by one, on a solo mission.
“I managed to catch three of the four girls in front and was determined to stay in podium position with Mazetti quickly closing the gap behind me.
“Despite much better positioning and aggression in the final 500m compared to my previous race, I just didn’t quite have the finishing legs and lost a sprint finish for second and while I was disappointed to miss second place I was ecstatic to claim my first World Cup podium.”
BEN ALLEN’S EIGHTH PLACE IN WORLD CROSS TRIATHLON
At the ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships In The Hague-Kijkduin, Australia’s Ben Allen has finished eighth after looking good in the early stages.
Allen took the initiative in the one-kilometre swim, exiting the water in first place, ahead of under-23 athlete Marco Akershoek (NED) and eventual bronze medallist Brice Daubord (FRA).
Allen, who has won five World Tour events this year stayed with the leaders throughout the 26km bike course but ran out of steam in the second lap of the 9km cross country run and was unable to find any reserves to challenge for a medal, ultimately finishing in eighth.
South Africa’s Conrad Stoltz made it a hat-trick of ITU Cross Triathlon World Championships wins with an impressive performance.
“The Caveman” as he is known won in 2011 and 2012 and looked as strong as ever, holding off a valiant challenge from Spain’s Ruben Ruzafa in the closing stages of the race.
Stoltz finished in two hours, one minute and 38 seconds, with Ruzafa (2:01:52) claiming silver ahead of Daubord (2:02:37) with Allen eighth in 2:05.18.
