Saturday 19th July saw as windy a day as most observers could ever recall at Dorney Lake, making conditions tough for all competitors in a standard-distance race which incorporated the inaugural London and South East Regional Championships. The winds blew from the top of the lake down towards the start/finish and transition areas, meaning that athletes swam into the kind of waves normally only seen on sea swims, and had to adjust their breathing patterns accordingly. Similarly, each of the 8 bike and 4 run laps required competitors to work hard into a headwind before sailing gleefully back in the opposite direction.
The race for overall victory took place in the 35-39 age group, where Thames Valley Triathletes' Joel Winter was first into transition in 21:15, followed by Ful-On Tri's Euan Lees in 23:46 and another TVT athlete, Sharkie Jaggard, 40 seconds further behind. Jaggard passed Lees half way through the bike ride, and extended his advantage to 20 seconds by the end, with Winter now only 40 seconds ahead. Meanwhile John Lund of Serpentine had closed to within 90 seconds with one of the day's fastest bike splits. A tired-looking Lees was unable to keep up with Jaggard on the run, though both overtook Winter on the first lap. Jaggard took his win, and the South East Championship, in 2:09:56, while Lees in second had the consolation of the London Championship in 2:11:18. John Lund finished second London athlete in 2:13:50, with Paul Perry of Thames Turbo third Londoner in 2:14:16.
In the Ladies’ London Championship, first and second were a close race between Angela Spatz of Trent Park RC in 2:40:28 and Becky Glover (unattached) in 2:40:47. The next two positions were also close, with Charlotte East of Wimbledon Windmilers taking third in 2:44:02 and Nicola Boyd of Optima Racing Team taking fourth in 2:44:27. Full results are in the Results box on the right of this page.