The British Triathlon Under 20’s Festival is set to take place alongside the British Paratriathlon Championships in Leicestershire’s Mallory Park on Bank Holiday Monday 28th August.
The weekend will mark the British Triathlon Youth and Junior Super Series finale, a culmination of the six-stage series, where the 2017 winners will be crowned. As ever, the event will also host the Inter Regional Championships for Tri Star 2 and 3's and, for the first time, the British Paratriathlon Championships.
Athletes will compete over distances varying from a 200m swim, 6.7km bike and 1.3km run for those in Tri Star 2 to a 750m swim, 20.5km bike and 5km run undertaken by the juniors. Paratriathletes will compete over the distance of a 750m swim, 19.9km bike and a 5.1km run. After a deep-water start, athletes will be challenged with a steep incline during the multi-lap bike course before testing their speed over a fast, flat run circuit.
The Inter Regional Championships will see athletes from 12 regions go head-to-head. The 10 best performances in each region will count towards the total, which will determine the overall winner.
Libby Coleman and Elsbeth Grant take the top two spots on the Youth girl’s rankings but a win from either will give them the Series title this weekend. Ellie Hobbs currently lies in fourth, still in contention, and will be look to challenge Freya Thompson for third place.
Daniel Dixon leads the Youth boys rankings and has had strong results throughout the series but needs to defend against Connor Bentley. A win for Connor will guarantee him the Series title. Noah Canby, Flynn Batkin and Oliver Makinson will all be defending positions in the series and look to climb up the rankings. Another to watch is Marcus Dey. The young talent has only competed in 2 events in the sereis, but a top 3 placing could see him climb from 8th to a podium spot.
The top 3 Junior females are all in the race for the Series title. Erin Wallace sits at the top of the series currently with Sinead Clark and Iona Miller. But with Olivia Mathias in the field, no position is safe.
The Junior men’s will be another competitive display. Connor Henderson sits on the top spot but with Sam Hart, Barclay Izzard and Cameron Harris, all with the talent and drive, the winner in Mallory Park will be the defining factor. Ben Dijkstra will also look to stamp his authority on the field.
The event will also stage the Inter Regional Championships, seeing Tri Star 2 and 3 athletes representing 12 regions across Great Britain go head-to-head in a bid for the coveted IRC title. 2016 saw the Northern Region take 3 categories out of 4. Will they maintain their dominance?
Keep an eye out for some of Britain's top paratriathlon talent, as the British Paratriathlon Championships get underway in the afternoon.
There will be an added incentive to perform, with the race acting as a final selection opportunity for athletes wanting to race at upcoming ITU World Championships in Rotterdam. PTWC athletes can also achieve Automatic Qualification to the Gold Coast 2018 CGE Commonwealth Nominated Paratriathlon Team should they win on Monday.
Look out for Rio 2016 gold medallists, Andy Lewis and Claire Cashmore on the start line, the latter having transferred into the sport from swimming last year.
