ATHLETICS - Stratford AC athlete Pearce secures top-10 finish at Sprint Triathlon World Championships - The Stratford Observer

ATHLETICS - Stratford AC athlete Pearce secures top-10 finish at Sprint Triathlon World Championships

Stratford Editorial 6th Jul, 2022   0

STRATFORD AC’s Rachel Pearce secured an impressive top-10 finish at the World Triathlon Sprint Championships in Montreal, Canada.

Pearce finished ninth overall and as the third GB athlete in her F50-54 age group with a time of 1 hour 17 minutes and 33 seconds which secured pre-qualification for the World Triathlon Sprint Championships in Hamburg, Germany next year.

The Stratford runner won the Eton Dorney triathlon in May but had her confidence dented by a back injury and was advised not to run until race day in Canada.

However, Pearce made a solid start over the 750-metre swim in the St. Lawrence river and departed the water in fifth place in 11 mins 59 secs.




And Pearce navigated a technical 19.2km bike course with tight turns and speed bumps in 33 mins 59 secs.

Despite finding the 5km run painful, Pearce dug deep to finish in 23 mins 35 secs and secure a top-10 placing.


Another Stratford athlete who pushed herself to the limit was Charly Marshall in the British Triathlon Super Series as she took part in the South Aquathlon at Bowood House.

Marshall was required to complete three aquathlons, with just over one hour recovery between each race, with the runs lengthened and swims shortened.

Race one featured an 800m swim and 1k run, race two a 500m swim and 2k run and race three a 300m swim and 3k run.

And despite the blustery and changeable conditions, the water temperature remained above 20 degrees which meant wetsuits were banned for the first two races.

A solid first swim saw Marshall finish in seventh place in 18 mins 32 secs and improved in the second race with another strong swim to finish seventh again in 15 mins 59 secs.

The water temperature dropped for the third race and, despite a very tough final run on tired legs, Marshall finished eighth in 17 mins 7 secs with many unable to complete the race.

Those results mean Marshall finished eighth overall to move into 13th position in the series with overall points determined by the best two out of three races.

Marshall said: “It was a really great day but more hard work to come to close the gap on those ahead of me.”

And Stratford’s athletes enjoyed further success at Nuneaton’s Pingles Stadium as a night of 200m PB’s lived up to its name.

In the under-13 category, Alex Wood timed at 26.69 secs on his first run – which would have been a PB but for an illegal tailwind.

Undeterred, he ran again, this time in 26.5 secs which was not only legal but also moved him up to 14th in the UK rankings for his age group.

Elaine Ledden smashed her 200m PB over the same distance to record 31:41 secs, taking her to fourth ranking in the UK for her age. She is ranked sixth and fourth for age group 100m and 400m respectively.

Dave Wilson ran the same distance in 26.62 secs leaving him just outside the UK top-20 for age group. He is ranked 14th and 18th for age in UK for 100m and 400m respectively.

Lastly, Graham Hill took on the Run Redditch Half marathon and finished in 1 hour 39 mins 36 secs to beat his target time thanks to a sprint finish and place 47th overall.

In the 10 race alongside the half marathon were SAC members Richard Gubby (13th, 40:37) and John Butler (256th, 1:15:24, third in age category).

Public Notices

View and download all of the public notices in the Stratford Observer.

Announcements

Weddings, Birthdays, Bereavements, Thank you notices, Marriages and more.

Subscribe

Receive a weekly update to your inbox by signing up to our weekly newsletter.

Business Directory

From plumbers, to restaurants, we can provide you with all the info you need.