CHESTER Tri members will represent Great Britain at the World Age Group Championships in London next month.
Five women and three men from the club have qualified for the event in Hyde Park which runs from September 13-15.
The first event will be the Sprint distance on Friday, September 13, when three Chester Triathletes will take part.
Rebecca Holland, who has previously competed at the European Age Group Championships, and Amy Gittins will both contest the F30-34 age group. Both qualified for the event by recording finish times of 1:17 at Llandudno and Bristol triathlons respectively.
Neil Pownall will race in the M40-44 category, having previously finished fifth in the Olympic distance European Championships and eighth in the sprint distance European Championships.
He also qualified at the Llandudno triathlon, and hopes his children Evie and Alice will be proud of him when he lines up with 2,200 others taking part in the 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run.
The longer Olympic Distance event takes place on Sunday, September 15, and will involve 2,800 top age group athletes.
They will complete a 1,500m swim lap of the Serpentine, then embark on a 40km bike leg which features most major London landmarks, including Buckingham Palace, The Mall, London Eye, The Tower of London, Whitehall and Big Ben. Their race then finishes with a 10km run around the Serpentine.
Claire Sutcliffe, who will represent Great Britain in the 40-44 age group, will be doing her first World Championship race, having competed in the European Championships for the past three years.
She will be joined in the same age group by Traci Shipley, who has only been doing triathlons for three years, who qualified in a time of 2.25:19 at Liverpool triathlon.
Bethan Hughes and Chris Prior have both also qualified for their first international age group race, thanks to their results at the Deva Triathlon.
Andy White, who last represented Great Britain in 2002 at the World Long Course Championships, in Nice, will be returning to international competition in London in the Olympic Distance race. He will contest the M50-54 category after finishing third in that age group at the British Championships in Liverpool.
