Mark Buckingham and Emma Pallant won the first senior domestic titles of 2015 yesterday at the British Elite Duathlon Championships at Rockingham Motor Racing Circuit in Northamptonshire.<\/p>\n
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It wasn\u2019t all plain sailing though \u2013 fierce winds forced the organisers to change the format in the junior women\u2019s and both senior races, cancelling the bike leg and make it a straight 10km run.<\/p>\n
Buckingham completed the run in a provisional winning time of 31:10mins, finishing ahead of Adam Bowden and David Bishop (times still to be confirmed). \u201cIt feels great to win \u2013 I\u2019m really happy with how it all went,\u201d said Buckingham afterwards.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, we all came here to do a duathlon but the weather just wasn\u2019t on our side. Coming from a running background, I guess it helps me, but knowing Adam Bowden was in the race, it\u2019s still a level playing field. We\u2019re big rivals and great friends \u2013 we have been for a number of years \u2013 so we had a good tussle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Buckingham looks to be on a good run of form with a second place at the ETU Triathlon European Cup in Quarteira, Portugal a week ago, and says he now plans to use April to build up his training ahead of racing WTS Yokohama in May.<\/p>\n
>>> 2015\u2019s triathlon highlights \u2013 a guide<\/p>\n
Women\u2019s race\u00a0<\/p>\n
Emma Pallant took the chequered flat in the women\u2019s race for the second year in a row, crossing the line in a time of 37:07. The 2014 British Triathlon Super Series Champion was followed across the line by last year\u2019s Super Series runner-up India Lee who finished just four seconds behind in 37:11mins. Third place went to Chloe Cook who completed the 10km in 37:27mins.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Emma Pallant wins 2015 British Elite Duathlon Champs<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cI was a little bit disappointed about it just being a run today,\u201d said Pallant afterwards. \u201cI\u2019ve been working hard out in Spain at a training camp and my bike\u2019s the thing we\u2019ve been focussing on a lot,\u00a0 so it\u2019s a bit of a shame about that, but with the conditions there was no way you could bike out there. I just sat in on the run as I wanted to qualify for the World Duathlon and left it down to a sprint finish \u2013 job done.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n >>> Emma Pallant: \u201cTriathlon has taught me I always have to fight\u201d<\/p>\n Paraduathlon<\/p>\n In the paraduathlon races, Joe Townsend (PT1) defended his title after crossing the line first in a winning time 1:05:25.\u00a0 Joe said after crossing the line: \u201cI am really happy with today. It\u2019s been a slow start to the season after recovering from surgery on my shoulder. Today, I just wanted to deliver a good performance and have a good indicator as to where I\u2019m at performance wise.\u201d<\/p>\n In the women\u2019s races, Lizzie Tench won the PT1 category in a time of 01:32.09 with World Paratriathlon Champion, Lauren Steadman (PT4) adding another title to her name winning gold in the PT4 category in 01:17:37.<\/p>\n >>> Dates confirmed for 2015 ITU World Paratri Events<\/p>\n Juniors<\/p>\n In the British Elite Junior Duathlon Championships, the first race of the British Triathlon Youth and Junior Super Series, Ben Dijkstra \u2013 220<\/em>\u2019s Youth Triathlete of the Year \u2013 won the junior men\u2019s event in 59:34mins. Samuel Dickinson was second with a time of 59:59mins and Jimmy Kershaw finished third in 1:01:00.<\/p>\n Ben commented after his second win in successive weekends: \u201cIt\u2019s great \u2013 I won this event last year so I knew I was coming into it knowing I was one of the stronger lads. The conditions weren\u2019t really ideal today \u2013 a lot of wind and spray, so I had to be really careful. I knew what I had to do and I\u2019m just over the moon with the result.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n In the junior women\u2019s event, Kate Waugh celebrated winning the opening title of the season crossing the line in a time of 38.02mins. Mary Hodgson was second with a time of 38:16mins and Sian Rainsley finished third in 39:41mins.<\/p>\n Issy Morris won the girl\u2019s youth race, which was also the opening round of the British Youth Super Series, with a time of 31:01mins. Emma Clapton was second in 32:09mins and Caitlin Roper finished third with a time of 32:20mins.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Tomos Nesham won the youth boy\u2019s race with a winning time of 29:43mins. Travis Bramley was second in 29:48mins and Gregor Malcolm finished third with a time of 29:56mins.\u00a0<\/p>\n For full results and more reaction from the athletes, head to\u00a0www.britishtriathlon.org.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n