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2023 Race Report

What a great turn out for the second edition of the 2023 Weston Park Triathlon & Duathlon this weekend! Over 400 athletes raced through the stunning Weston Park, enjoying the great weather and fantastic atmosphere.

We were blessed with amazing weather conditions once again for the 2023 edition of the Weston Park Triathlon & Duathlon, the event's second year.

Kicking of at 11am event started with both the Sprint Duathlon and Triathlon. The swim was an in-water start in the beautiful Weston Park Lake. For most this was the first competitive open water swims of the season and with a recorded morning temperature of 16.9 degrees and a warm air temperature, the conditions were good. The swimmers completed a single 750m loop of the lake followed by 4 laps of a 6km bike course and 2 laps of off-road running.

The Duathlon was a British Triathlon European Championship qualifier, attracting over 140 participants to the start line in this hotly contested race. Starting under the finish line arch they headed out on the 1st 2.5k run, onto the 4 laps of the bike course and then their final 5km run.

In the female Sprint triathlon Amy Walker led the way after the swim with a time of 12.09 with Alex Hemsley second out of the water in 12:28. Amy held the lead after the bike with Alex still in second place, less than a minute behind her. Once again holding the lead in the run, Amy finished strong taking the female win in a fantastic 1:19:11, and an overall 4th place. Alex was hot on her heels coming in second with a time of 1:20:16. Completing the top 3 in the female race was Beckie Houston in 1:26:29.

In the Open Sprint Triathlon, Robert Flack was first out of the swim in an impressive 11:39, heading onto the bike leg it was James Smith who took the lead completing the 4 loops in 40:05. Staying in first place James went on to take the overall win in 1:13:07, with Robert placing second in a time of 1:14:18, completing the top 3 in the open race was Martin Kettle in 1:18:56.

Starting at the same time as the first sprint Triathlon wave, the Duathletes headed out onto their 1st run with Richard Shepherd taking the lead and Beau Smith and Christos Tzelis hot on his heels in the open race. Richard held his lead on the bike with a comfortable two minute gap, he then went on to take the win in a brilliant 1:08:36. Making up some incredible time on the run course Beau Smith came 14 seconds behind him taking 2nd place, then just second 7 seconds later Christos Tzelis came in taking 3rd place on the podium.
In the female Sprint duathlon it was Katie Latham who held the lead throughout completing run one in 10:47 the bike in 46:41 to go on to take the win in the female race in an impressive 1:17:45. Beth Jones took second place in 1:20:57 with Karina Kauuffman coming in third in 1:21:05.

The last race to kick off was the Super Sprint, with 53 participants crossing the start line. In the open race Oliver Greensill created an impressive lead coming out of the water in 6:45, heading onto the bike course it was Simon Lewis who completed the bike in 23:01 and taking the lead. Oliver then claimed back his lead completing the run 09:44 and taking 1st place overall in a time of 42:01. Colin Bailey came in just 44 seconds behind to claim second place, with Simon Lewis coming in third in a time of 43:22.

The female Super Sprint we saw Eva Holden take the lead in the swim, with a time of 7:30. Katy Granville Chapman then took over on the bike and held her lead taking the winning spot in a time 48:25. With an impressive run time of 11:25, Zoe Lilly came in second place in an overall time of 49:51, with Eva coming in 3rd place in a time of 51:19.

Always Aim High Events Director Tim Lloyd said ‘It has been another great weekend of racing at Weston Park this year, the venue is perfect for Triathlon & Duathlon racing. It was great to see so many join us on what was one of their first triathlons of the season with a greta mixture of seasoned athletes as well as beginners joining us for their first introduction to the sport.

It was also amazing to see such a hotly contested Duathlon race this year, with many with us to earn their place in the European Championship place.

Thank you to everyone who joined us over the weekend, do keep a look out for more information on how we plan to grow this fantastic event for 2024.

As always we would like to thank our amazing marshals and volunteers, many of who travelled a distance to be with us at Weston Park. We couldn’t put on such fantastic races without them. As well as the fabulous team at Weston Park our race sponsors and all the spectators that supported the athletes around the course.

The full race results for Sundays event can be found on TDL Event's Website Here.

Race photographs are available now via the Mick Hall Photography Website