A STRONG squad from Farnham Triathlon Club made the shortish trip to Windsor Great Park for the inaugural Windsor Duathlon which incorporated the British National Age-Group Championships and doubled as a qualifier for the 2016 Aviles ITU Duathlon World Championships in Spain later in the year.

The showcase event comprised the standard distances of 10k run, 40k cycle and 5k run entirely within the confines of Windsor Great Park. The competitive field of over 500 included 13 FTC members.

Setting off first in the men’s race, James Long and Nic Harker stayed well up in the M40-44 leading group for much of the single 10k lap, hitting transition in 38-38 and 39-17 respectively.

On the four-lap cycle section, described as technical with a few climbs per lap, Long clocked the fastest time for FTC with 1-07-04, but struggled on the closing run as Harker ran past in 20-25 to lead the club home in 2hrs 10mins 2secs.

Harker placed eighth in the M40 age-group ahead of Long (2-13-05) who dropped back to 17th. Third to finish in this category was Mike Pounds (30th) in 2-21-29.

The ladies’ race featured five FTC members, including new club champion Joanna Wright, competing in the F20-24 category.

Wright fulfilled expectations with a consistent performance in both run and bike to finish sixth overall in 2-19-51 and third in a very competitive age-group, thus bringing back a national bronze medal for the club.

Bryony Cameron-Smith (F30-34) also kept up with the leaders, matching Wright on both run legs, but just missed out on a medal in fourth place (13th overall) in 2-24-19.

Sue Graves, a former sprint triathlon gold medallist, took the longer format in her stride and added to her winners’ medal tally for the club in the F65-69 age category. She led from start to finish in 3hrs 14mins 15secs.

Other times and positions for Farnham TC: Ian Bromley (58th M50) 2-55-47, Paul Fairclough (49th M35) 2-58-34, Chris Szabo Hemmings (35th M55) 2-59-00, Karen Masson (16th F45) 3-01-06, Derek Graves (4th M70) 3-04-25, John Nicholson (17th M60) 3-07-57, Helen Collett (13th F55) 3-08-55.

In the supporting sprint distance event of 5k run, 20k cycle, 2.5k run, Farnham’s Steve Mitchell finished 97th overall (11th M40) in 1-38-41.

James Porter has been making a name for himself in the junior (tristars) section of FTC since first competing as an under-13 in 2012. Youth member of the year in 2014 after some consistent performances, he stepped up to his first elite competition by racing in the youth elite drafting race over 2.5k run, 10k cycle and 1.15k run.

A puncture on the cycle section ended any hopes of a top place, but two fast runs kept him in the competition to finish 50th in 36-50 and encouragement of future success at this level.