We had a pretty busy weekend of aquabike racing in England with no less than 13 aquabike races on the British Island. But first of all let´s have a look over at mainland Europe where the 100% Half Empuriabrava in the Northeast of Spain included a middle distance aquabike race for the second year.
Fabian BADIA VICENT was able to repeat his 2021 win at this event, though it was much closer this time. In a time of 02:50:36 He was five minutes faster than last time, to beat Marc SANGRÀ LLUCH by only 59 seconds, with Alex PAGAN MONTORO only 26 more seconds behind. The women´s race was won by Audrey SYREN, with Paqui MIRANDA MEDINA taking second place about four minutes behind and Duna SALLENT SALLÓ coming in third.
In England the highlight of the weekend was the standard distance aquabike race at the Northumberland Triathlon, which was the qualification race for the 2023 Standard Distance World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain. No less than 92 aquabike athletes finished the race. Kris WHITELAW was the fastest of all, taking the win 56 seconds ahead of Mark TAYLOR, with Anatole FERERA following only four more seconds behind. The women´s race was won by Rosalind DAVIES-JONES, 27 seconds ahead of Nicole WILSON and Anna MCQUEEN one more minute behind.
The field of the sprint distance aquabike race was a bit smaller, but still with 14 athletes at the startline. Max MURRAY was the fastest, taking a clear and safe win more than 7 minutes ahead of Neil ANDERSON and Stephen LOCKER. Fastest women was Deirdre OREILLY, with Isobel MUNNOCH in 2nd and Celia MICHIE in 3rd.
Please note: Because of human error (by mistake I uploaded the 2021 results of the Northumberland Triathlon), the points of this race are currently not correctly added at the Aquabike Ranking Europe. This will be the case with the next recalculation of the rankings next Wednesday morning. Sorry for that…
From all the other races in England it was the Sprint Aquabike race at Cotswolds Lake that attracted the biggest field of aquabikers. 19 athletes started the race where Robert EVANS took a clear with a time gap of more than 6 minutes. The race for 2nd place was much closer though. It was Steve BROADWAY taking the second spot on the podium, with Ken BROWN taking third in the same finishing time. In the women´s race it was Helen WAINWRIGHT taking the win. That result made her climbing up 13 places in the Aquabike Ranking Europe, entering the Top10 of the women´s ranking. Second woman in the race about two minutes behind was Michelle JACKSON, followed by Erika HENSON.
At the standard distance race of the Dorney Triathlon Mark YEOMAN was the fastest aquabike athlete, taking the win about five minutes ahead of Ryan HART. Sharkie JAGGARD missed the second place by only a few seconds. But third place was enough to get him pretty close to the Top10 of the Aquabike Ranking Europe where he´s in 12th place now. Kate BALDWIN was the fastest woman in the standard distance aquabike race with Katie GREEN coming in second.
Just as at Northumberland Triathlon the sprint distance aquabike race at Dorney Triathlon also attracted just three athletes with Luke TINGLEY taking a clear win.
Unfortunately also the only middle distance aquabike race in England this weekend didn´t really see a huge field of aquabike athletes. Only four athletes finished the race at the Marshman Triathlon in the southeast. Greg FUNNELL was the fastest of them while Rose MACLACHLAN was the fastest of the three women. There was also a standard distance aquabike race at the Marshman where Ian BLACKBURN was the faster of the only two competitors.
At the Arundel Lido Triathlon it was Francesco DA RE taking the win in the standard distance race, while Helen VARCOE was the fastest in the sprint distance aquabike race.
The standard distance race at the Hertfordshire Triathlon was won by Marc PITKEATHLY, only seventeen seconds ahead of the fastest woman Charlotte GRAVES. Amy FONSECA WILLIAMS was the fastest of the three women in the sprint distance race.
You can find links to all full results at our aquabike race result search.
Chapeau and congratulations to all aquabike finishers of last week´s races!