British Paraduathlon Championships part of opening Super Series weekend

National champions will be crowned at the British Paraduathlon Championships on Sunday (2 April) as the British Triathlon Super Series gets underway.

Paratriathletes from across Britain will race across the super sprint duathlon format with British paraduathlon titles and medals the prize at Prestwold Hall, Leicestershire.

The event will include a 2.5km run, 10km bike and a 1.25km run around the Prestwold Circuit where the first points of the British Triathlon Paratri Super Series will also be on offer.

Titles and medals will be awarded in each classification with over 30 athletes expected on the start line.

Six athletes on British Triathlon’s National Lottery funded World Class Performance Programme are set to compete at the season-opening event with Mel Nicholls (PTWC), Colin Wallace (PTS3), Megan Richter (PTS4), Finley Jakes (PTS4), Michael Salisbury (PTS5) and Oscar Kelly (PTVI) all on the start list.

The Paratri Super Series is open to all paratriathletes with an impairment – classified or non-classified – and it’s a chance for the next generation of British talent to get racing opportunities, alongside those more experienced.

Athletes to look out for include multiple national champion Bret Crossley in the PTWC category who will go head-to-head with Welsh PTWC paratriathlete Darren Williams, whilst in the open PTS2 only a couple of seconds separated Ryan McClure and Oliver Liddle at the final event in Sunderland last year.

Both PTS4 events include experienced international athletes and athletes newer to the sport, while the PTS5 events look set to be two of the most competitive races of the afternoon.

Last year’s series champions, Cheryl Went and Tom Barnard will both be at the opening event with the women’s PTS5 also featuring Stef Reid, who is a multiple Paralympic medallist and world champion in para-athletics, and won at her first Super Series race in Sunderland last August.

Opening event for Youth, Junior & Senior

The British Paraduathlon Championships will be the final event across two days of racing in the British Triathlon Super Series with Youth, Junior and Senior athletes taking part in the Performance Assessment Weekend.

On Saturday it’s a pool swim time-trial at the University of Nottingham which will then determine the start order and time intervals for the combined bike-run at Prestwold Hall on the Sunday.

The bike-run event will be held in a pursuit format with the fastest swimmer in each of the categories starting first followed by the next fastest athletes according to their swim times.

Athletes will start without shoes, as if exiting the water, and run into and complete transition one, before going onto complete the bike, transition two and run.

The results from the Performance Assessments will see the first points awarded in this year’s Youth & Junior Super Series, whilst for senior athletes it will be used to determine the order of entry for future Super Series events.

After the Performance Assessments, it’s onto Llanelli on 13 May where there will be races and points awarded in the Youth & Junior, Senior and Paratri Super Series’.

Events will continue throughout the summer including at World Triathlon Para Series Swansea, AJ Bell 2023 World Triathlon Championship Series Sunderland and the Super Series Grand Final at Mallory Park in September.