More than 1,500 competitors took part in the largest ever Cholmondeley Castle Triathlon, set over two days at the beautiful castle estate.
The triathlon weekend included a challenging swim, bike and run with unparalleled athlete support and an energetic festival atmosphere.
Spectator support was particularly motivating for The Gauntlet (half-iron) and Olympic distance athletes, where spectator areas, supported by Macmillan Cancer Support’s cheer point, cheered on the athletes.
George Goodwin flew around the half Iron Gauntlet course, beating Lough Cutra Castle Triathlon winner Aichlinn O’Reilly by four minutes and shaving five minutes off Elliot Smales’ 2016 time to set a new course record for Cholmondeley.
George, who took first place on the podium at his first ever half-iron distance race, said: “It was a hard course, a tough course, but really good. I’ve been training really hard, it’s fantastic to set a new course record.”
Aichlinn O’Reilly, who won a pair of Wheelscience race wheels for finishing with the fastest cycle split in Lough Cutra, led the race throughout the cycle course until the last half lap where George Goodwin took the lead.
In the women’s race Mel Sykes beat Lara Smith by five minutes and 30 seconds to finish in first place on the podium.
This weekend saw elite triathlete and Castle Triathlon Series regular Hannah Drewett retain her Cholmondeley Castle Triathlon Olympic distance win, completing the race in 02:15:40. Hannah exited the water just seconds behind the lead male Jonathan Dudley, and one minute ahead of Vicky Johnston who finished second.
Hannah said: “I’m so happy, I felt much better than I did last week when I raced a 70.3 in Staffordshire, and I’m thrilled to come back to Cholmondeley and win again.”
Saturday afternoon saw the adult mixed team relay races take part, giving spectators at Cholmondeley a taste of what is to come at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. The mixed relay race, which sees four team members (two males, two females) each complete a 250m swim, 5km cycle and 1.5km run, saw 120 triathletes take part in 30 teams.
BBC Breakfast presenter and GB Age-Group Triathlete Louise Minchin took part and was ecstatic on the finish line as her team came fourth.
She said: “My team mates were absolutely amazing - I’m so chuffed. I left them a bit of work to do after my swim, but it was fantastic, I really enjoyed it. I’d love to come back and bring my team to another Castle Triathlon Series mixed relay; we need to start rolling mixed relay racing out.”
More than 450 children took part in a range of junior individual and mixed relay races, including BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award winner Bailey Matthews who returned to Cholmondeley Castle to compete in his first ever un-aided triathlon in the 11-12 wave, completing the 300m swim, 8km cycle and 4km run in an impressive 01:13:48.
Right at the heart of the triathlon weekend was a sense of athletes coming together in support of charities, including the national charity partner, Macmillan Cancer Support who hosted an energetic cheer point and were on hand to award triathletes their medals as they crossed the finish line. The local charity, the Neuromuscular Centre was instrumental in providing volunteers and the event supports the important work they do to help the cause.
Registration is now open for 2018 for Saturday, June 23 and Sunday, June 24, 2018 with an early bird discount of 30%.
Sign up now on www.castletriathlonseries.co.uk .
