The superb weather and huge support from all our sponsors set the background for the greatest XTTriathlon and British Triathlon Cross Championships 2011.
A free bike mechanic service from Cyclesurgery, try-before-you-buy from Gore Bikewear, café and free massage from Care for Health were just some of the perks for all XTTriathlon competitors on the day.
The pristine calm waters of Hawley Lake and peaceful surrounding forest of Gibraltar Barracks was abruptly disturbed as 400 athletes descended on the Royal Engineers training land just outside London. The full distance event set off at 10:00 with a 2 lap 1500m swim including the exit and re-entry. This mass start swim circumnavigated 2 islands and was convincingly led from the start by Richard Stannard who exited with almost 1 ½ minute lead at 00:17:43. First woman out of the water Jacqui Slack came into T1 at 00:20:30 with over 3 minutes lead on the next woman.
This set the tone for the rest of the race for the men’s category as Stannard convincingly completed the 2 lap 24km off road bike course. The bike route included a mix of undulating heath land and technical forest trails and lapped through the main spectators area. After 24km Stannard had begun to loose some of the advantage as other race favourites Doug Hall, Cedric Lassonde and Graham Wadsworth closed the gap.
The women’s lead narrowed as Kerry Macphee clawed back valuable seconds on the bike route leaving the fight down to the run.
The 2 lap run route saw the men’s leader being chased down as they scrambled through the forest across sand, mud, gravel and various off road obstacles but Stannard held the lead to finish 1:42:17. And Kerry Macphee clinched the women’s title by 7 seconds at 2:00:31.
This year’s XTTriathlon saw the emergence off road triathlon as the next pinnacle of triathlon racing testing stamina and agility on the uneven bike and run routes with some magnificent performances from Richard Stannard and Kerry Macphee.
