MEMBERS of Chester Triathlon Club were in local, national and international action at the weekend.

They were busy competing in the Deva Junior Aquathlon at Christleton, the London Marathon and European Age Group Triathlon Championships in Eilat, Israel.

In the baking hot conditions in Israel, Chester Tri had representatives in both the sprint distance event (750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run) and the standard distance (1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run).

In order to qualify for the event, athletes had to finish in the top four in their age group in one of three highly competitive races across the UK last year.

In the standard distance races, Chester Tri’s Ray O’Grady was fourth in the M60-64 class, Claire Sutcliffe was eighth in F40-44, while Becky Holland was 11th in F30-34 and Chris Binks was 11th in M65-69. In the sprint distance, Neil Pownall was seventh in M35-39.

In London, Kelly Crickmore and Vince van Woerkom were the stars of the show, both achieving personal bests and extremely fast times.

Crickmore was the 13th fastest woman off the mass start, finishing in two hours, 50 minutes and 24 seconds.

Van Woerkom finished in 2.41:39 while Chester club-mates Susan Fourie (3.26:15) and Jan Rogers (3.40:55) also went fast enough to automatically qualify for next year’s race.

There were also excellent performances from Chris Hulse (3.38:10), Simon McAllister (4.06:27) and Jayne Neave (4.09:23).

At Christleton, 120 junior triathletes took part in the Deva Junior Aquathlon.

A total of 37 Chester Tri members took part, with Zack Holland, Emmily-Ann Westoby, Sally Stanford, Katy Morgan, James Wynn-Edwards, Thomas Holmes, Claudia Miller, Daniel Weaver, Gemma Southall, Emma Weaver and Ben Edwards all finishing in the top five in their age groups. Andrew Shortall emerged as clear winner in the sprint event, while things were a little closer for Caleb St Hill, who crossed the line just fractionally ahead of second-placed Matthew Willis to win the Tri 2 category.