A weekend of swim, bike, run marked the start of the 2023 British Triathlon Super Series as over 380 athletes raced across two days.
Youth, Junior and Senior athletes completed a swim time-trial at the University of Nottingham on Saturday, before taking on a combined bike-run at Prestwold Hall in a pursuit format the following day.
The swim times from Saturday set the order and intervals for when each athlete started their respective race on Sunday which made for an exciting day of racing in each of the Super Series.
First off on the Sunday was the combined Youth female race which saw Youth A (born in 2007 and 2008) and Youth B (born in 2006) athletes race together.
It was at this event last year where Youth A Lauren Mitchell made her mark, securing the first of her four maximum point hauls en-route to her overall series victory as a Youth A.
Mitchell was again at the forefront of the racing, but so was Annabelle Souter with the pair gaining a nearly 30 second advantage over the rest of the field.
Both ran under nine minutes for the 2.5km run to the line which saw Souter post the fastest run split to cross under the Super Series arch two seconds ahead of Mitchell.
Patience Lamb was third overall, and also the third Youth A athlete, followed by Helena Coy in fourth who was the first Youth B across the line.
Next onto the motor racing circuit were the athletes competing in the open Youth race which again combined Youth A and B athletes.
Last year’s Super Series Youth A overall champion Brandon Pye has stepped up an age group to Youth B for this year due to his age, but he was back to winning ways at Prestworld Hall, moving from fifth after Saturday’s swim to first place.
Luke Holmes was next to cross the line followed by fellow Youth B athlete Alex Robin with Alex Dack the first Youth A to finish in fifth overall.
The combined junior and senior female race was the next race to start and it was won by junior athlete Eve Whitaker who was the fastest athlete by over 50 seconds having started the bike-run in sixth place.
Lizzy Edge was the second-placed athlete and the first senior finisher with the fast-running Eva Edwards the second senior and third overall. Juniors Olivia Logan (4th), Isla Hedley (5th) and Millie Breese (6th) also all placed in the top-six overall.
The open junior and senior races were split into two separate races and the junior race saw the closest finish of the day.
Lawrence Martindale got to the line just ahead of Tom Hattee to claim maximum points as they both sprinted to the line with the pair finishing 26 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.
In the open senior race, Hugo Milner again showcased his running ability to cross the line first, running 30 seconds quicker over the 5km run to finish first. Reuben Trotter was second ahead of Charlie Harding in third as they both moved through the field on the bike and run.
For Youth and Junior athletes, the Performance Assessments saw the first points of this year’s Super Series awarded, and, while no points were available for senior athletes, the results will be used to award race entries into Tier 1 and Tier 2 races for future events.
The next event is in Llanelli on Saturday 13 May when the Llanelli Multisport Festival hosts racing in the Youth & Junior, Senior and Paratri Super Series with points awarded across all the series.
The results from the Performance Assessments can be viewed here.
