North Cotswold Tri & Run

English Triathlon Championships - Ripon, Yorkshire

LUCY WALMSLEY is an English Triathlon champion despite not knowing whether she would compete at Ripon in Yorkshire due to a bad chest.

Feeling okay on the morning of the race she decided to compete and was well rewarded.

A tight battle in the women's 45-49 age group category of the standard distance event ensued with Lucy one minute behind the leader after exiting the 1500m swim and there was hardly anything between them during the transition and 40km bike section.

So it all came down to the 10km run which Lucy ran brilliantly in 41.16 to overhaul the leader and finish first in a total time of 2hr 20min 47sec to be crowned English FV45 champion.

Even though this was not her target race, this now qualifies her for the standard distance world age group championship in Rotterdam.

On July 16 Lucy will also toe the line in her first Ironman in Bolton which will act as a qualifier for the world Championships in Kona.

Littledown Marathon

THERE was no let-up in Steve Edwards’ schedule as he continues his quest to hopefully establish a new 800 marathons worLd record at Birmingham in October.

A hard-fought finish time of 3:17.16 at the Littledown marathon near Bournemouth on a very warm day was good enough to earn him first MV50 and fifth place overall. This was Steve’s 27th competitive marathon so far this year, an average of one a week, and his 787th in total.