On 22 June, the very first British Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships, hosted by Castle Race Series, will take place at Cholmondeley Castle.
Teams of four (two open and two female participants) will each complete a 250m swim, 5km bike and 1.5km run, back-to-back. The first team to finish will become British Mixed Relay Champions.
Brian Adcock, Race Director, said: "The Mixed Team Relay is a Castle Race Series speciality. We cannot wait to host the British Mixed Team Relay Championships at Cholmondeley Castle next weekend. This race is brilliant for elites and first-timers alike.
"The drama will play out in front of the castle with hundreds of spectators cheering the teams along. This event is set to return to the Olympics this summer in Paris, after making its debut in the delayed 2020 Olympics.
"This fast growing event is one of the most thrilling sporting spectacles on the planet and promises to be a great watch at Cholmondeley on 22nd June."
Ahead of the event, we’re looking at the history of the mixed relay in triathlon and how British teams have fared in this recently introduced triathlon format.
After running as a separate event for men and women made up of three competitors on each team, the mixed relay in its current format took place for the first time at 2009 Hy-Vee ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay Championships, with no British team taking part.
A British team were first involved in mixed relay action the following year at in Switzerland, as a team of Jacqueline Slack, Harry Wiltshire, Lucy Chittenden and Philip Wolfe came eleventh.
A senior British team wouldn’t stand on a mixed relay team podium until 2012 when Vicky Holland, William Clarke, Non Stanford and Jonny Brownlee won gold at 2012 Stockholm ITU Triathlon Mixed Relay World Championships. A junior side were crowned European Mixed Relay Champions in 2011.
Britain’s next success in this fast and exciting format came at 2014 Kitzbühel ETU Triathlon European Championships thanks to a team of Holly Lawrence, Marc Austin, Lois Rosindale and Matthew Sharp, who picked up a bronze. Gold at the world championships followed later that year with Holland, Jonny Brownlee, Alistair Brownlee and Lucy Buckingham standing on the top step of the podium. That same year Team England were Commonwealth Games gold medallists in Glasgow.
Another European bronze medal followed in 2015 as Sharp was joined this time by Lucy Buckingham, Jodie Stimpson, and Tom Bishop in Geneva. At the world championships a week later, Vicky Holland added bronze to her growing collection alongside Non Stanford, Gordon Benson and Mark Buckingham.
The event was included in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, with Team England winning silver behind Australia. For Britain there was one mixed relay medal that year as Bishop, Stanford, Holland and Jonny Brownlee won a silver medal at 2018 ITU World Triathlon Mixed Relay Series Nottingham behind the US.
Another year went by without a European or World championships Mixed Relay medal. But there was a gold at 2019 World Triathlon Mixed Relay Series Nottingham, which was followed by back-to-back silver medals in Edmonton and Tokyo in the World Triathlon Mixed Relay Series.
There was a return to the World Championship podium in 2020 in the form of a bronze medal, ahead of the format’s Olympic debut in Tokyo, through a team made up of Georgia Taylor-Brown, Jess Learmonth, Alex Yee and Barclay Izzard. A European gold medal came in Kitzbühel in 2021 thanks to Sian Rainsley, Sam Dickinson, Olivia Mathias, and Gordon Benson.
A month later as the mixed relay made its Olympic Games debut Team GB, which was made up of Taylor-Brown, Yee, Learmonth and Jonny Brownlee claimed gold.
On home soil there was a silver medal at 2022 World Triathlon Championship Series Leeds as Taylor-Brown added to her Olympic Gold alongside Bishop, Sophie Coldwell and Grant Sheldon. There was another silver medal in Montreal before Izzard, Dickinson, Rainsley and Kate Waugh stood on the top step of the podium at World Triathlon Championship Series Hamburg.
In Birmingham at the 2022 Commonwealth Games, it was a Home Nations one-two as Team England took gold ahead of Team Wales.
Last year British mixed relay sides won silver medals at the European Games, World Triathlon Championship Series Sunderland and the Paris Olympic Games Test Event.
In 2024 all eyes are on Paris and the Olympic Games as Team GB defend their mixed relay Olympic title. But first it’s your turn to see if you and your team can become British Mixed Relay Champions on 22 June at Cholmondeley Castle.
The British Championships are open to all Core and Ultimate British Triathlon Members. To become a member and be eligible to become British Champion at any British Championship event click the button below.
