Juniors feature well at the Welsh Duathlon Championships
Cardiff 1st July 2006
Report by Les Watson
The Pembs Juniors travelled to Cardiff on a hot Saturday morning on 1st July for the Welsh Tristar Duathlon Championships and demonstrated their all-round credentials by good performances despite the intense heat.
Pembs had no representation in the Tristart race but in Tristar 1 a fine effort from Sam Withers in the 800m run/2km bike/400m run event brought him home in fourth place a couple of seconds ahead of his next rival. In the girls Tristar 1 Cara Watson struggled on the day finding the bike particularly challenging and finished in 6th place.
Controversy reigned in the boys Tristar 2 race which covered 1.2km run/4km bike/600m run when the third and fourth placed finishers were relegated for not completing the correct number of cycle laps. That resulted in promotion for the athletes behind them and Joe Lloyd was unlucky to miss out on a bronze medal as, after a fine bike effort, he finished with the same time as the third placed medallist but was pipped by him on the line. Todd Watson put in a solid run and bike finishing in 8th place.
Pembrokeshire’s first medal came in the girls Tristar 2 race with Megan Withers putting in a controlled run and bike performance to take the Welsh Silver medal. A good event from Meghan Good saw her finish 5th and Kate Matchett came home in 7th.
Pembrokeshire’s best result came in the boys Tristar 3 event of 2km run/6km bike/800m run. Alex Matchett dominated throughout the run and bike and never looked in trouble as he finished 43seconds ahead of his nearest rival to take the Welsh Gold medal. A good race developed behind him as both Jake Watson and Luke Cornish battled with a Llanelli athlete for the remaining podium medals. Unfortunately a Pembs 1,2,3 was not to be on this occasion. A poor final transition from Jake dropped him too far behind his Llanelli rival to catch on the run home and he finished with a Bronze 11 seconds behind. Luke Cornish followed on in 4th place.
Pembs results as follows:
|
Tristar 1 Boys
|
Time
|
Place
|
| Sam Withers | 15:45 |
4th |
|
Tristar 1 Girls
|
Time
|
Place
|
| Cara Watson | 17:55 |
6th |
|
Tristar 2 Boys
|
Time
|
Place
|
Joe Lloyd |
21:48 |
4th |
Todd Watson |
23:05 |
8th |
|
Tristar 2 Girls
|
Time | Place |
Megan Withers |
20:34 |
SILVER |
Meghan Good |
22:39 |
5th |
Kate Matchett |
27:22 |
7th |
|
Tristar 3 Boys
|
Time
|
Place
|
Alex Matchett |
26:42 |
GOLD |
Jake Watson |
28:13 |
BRONZE |
Luke Cornish |
29:10 |
4th |