This weekend sees the first international outing of the year for the Great Britain Age-Group Team at the 2015 Horst ETU Powerman Long Distance Duathlon European Championships.
The course is long loved by duathletes for its idyllic setting, travelling through the town whilst maintaining its status as a fast, flat route known for producing exciting battles.
Great Britain Age-Group Manager Barron Medelssohn will manage a team nearly double the size of that in 2014, which returned to Great Britain with 13 medals in tow last year.
“We have a great team travelling out to Horst this weekend, hopefully kick-starting the season with some equally fantastic performances. With a mix of newcomers and experienced duathletes on the Great Britain Age-Group Team, we’re sure to see some top quality racing and hopefully a repeat of the medal tally we amassed in 2014.
"The course brings with it some challenges, so our duathletes will have to have their wits about them along the route. I’m looking forward to a great weekend of competition”.
Having competed in Horst on two previous occasions, this will be Barron’s first opportunity managing the Great Britain Age-Group Team. “It will be strange not being on the start line, but having raced here myself, I think I’ll be able to offer some good advice to the team and have a good idea of what’s going on at different parts of the course.”
The event also hosts Elite Men’s and Women’s races, where two British representatives will be fighting for their own European titles.
Vicky Gill, competing in the Elite Women’s race said, “I'm excited to get out and compete after a solid winter of training.
"As it's my first duathlon of the season, after the British Elite Duathlon champs quite rightly got changed to a straight run, I'm not quite sure what to expect. I do know I'm in good shape - my running is ahead of where it's been previous years and I've been working hard with my bike - I just need to have good legs on the day!
“The format and course is slightly different this year - 10km first run instead of the 15km in previous years - which I think will make the race more full-on from the gun.”
Follow @BritTri for updates as the action unfolds from 9am (local time) Sunday 12 April.
Great Britain Age-Group Team
M20-24 – Kurt Sanders
W20-24 - Samantha Aplin, Rosie Davies, Stephanie Knott
M25-29 – Richard Anderson, Tom Foster, Daniel Geisler, David Kirk, Rich Shirley
M30-34 – James Elgar, Chris Roxburgh, James Wren
W30-34 - Angela McGurk, Natalie Shaw
M35-39 – Michael Buglass, Paul Hart, Mustafa Huseyin, Tom Lawton, Simon Marks, Anthony Webb
M40-44 – Ian Anderson, Dave Connor, Hedley Fletcher, David Higgins, Mark Higham, Chris Horner, Nicholas Huntley, Grahame Mckenzie, Andy Newham, Julian Norton, Darren Preston, Neil Price, Bennett Pugsley, Darren Pyefinch, Matthew Tihecott, Paul Underwood,
W40-44 – Fran Bungay, Marie Meldrum
M45-49 – Benvenuto Baldelli, David Camm, Jason Davies, Mark Dowell, Andrew Goodchild, Simon King, Salim Mohammed, Tim Savage
W45-49 – Louise Goddard, Valerie Martin, Julie Morgan-Dobson, Steph Scott,
M50-54 – Nick Cooper, Jon Cowell, Steve Grout, Mike Hannay, Gary Jones, John Levick, Nick Mansley
W50-54 – Annette Edwards
M55-59 – George Burns, Barry Hards, David Truman,
M60-64 – Graham Harrison, James Howard Jeffrey
M65-69 – Mick Anglim, Peter Jagan,
Great Britain Elite Team
Elite Men - Julian Lings
Elite Women - Vicky Gill
