Sunday’s inaugural British Triathlon Disabled Championships supported by Wrigley’s Airwaves® was declared a resounding success by the national governing body and local organisers in Rotherham.

An extremely competitive field of triathletes took to the open waters of Rother Valley for a 750m swim, followed by a fast flat 20km bike circuit, leading onto a flat 5km run route. The closest finish of the day saw James Martin (South London Harriers Tri) out sprinting Nichols Gregory (Fulham Tri) in the final hundred meters, to win the Tri 9 Class by 5 seconds.

David Cooke (Tri 3), James Smith (Tri 4), Tom Perkins (Tri 5), Adrian Howden (Tri 6), Melanie Barratt (Tri 7), Colin Styles (Tri 7) and James Martin (Tri 9) become British Triathlon Champions in their respective classes.

Alan Rayment (Tri 3), Alesdair Grice (Tri 5), Paul Thomas (Tri 6), Maggie Bowes (Tri 7), Graham Kiff (Tri 7) and Nicholas Gregory (Tri 9) took silver medals.

Ed Fletcher (Tri 3), David Corringham (Tri 5), Mick Townsend (Tri 6), Robert Awty (Tri 7) and Fergus Cooke (Tri 9) took bronze medals.

The championships were the first national event exclusively for disabled triathletes and took place as part of the Rother Valley Triathlon festival held in Rother Valley Country Park, just outside Rotherham in South Yorkshire. The inclusion of the Disabled Championships is a culmination of years of hard work and recent development projects supported by British Triathlon’s Premier Sponsor, Corus.

Julian Wills, British Triathlon’s National Equity Manager, commented: “The event was awesome. The Championships are a culmination of almost four years development work, and are a milestone in disabled triathlon history. The athletes were fantastic, and a credit to the sport of triathlon.”

For more information about disabled triathlon opportunities please contact Julian Wills on julianwills@britishtriathlon.org or 01822 850454