Britain Tri-umphant with Gold, Silver and Bronze in Salford.

Wednesday, 1st September 2004

British Triathlon scored a hat-trick today in Salford at the Countryside Properties Salford Triathlon ITU World Cup with Michelle Dillon (Gold, women's race), Liz Blatchford (Bronze, women's race) and Stuart Hayes (Silver, men's race) picking up medals in a field described as the toughest this year in the world.
 
Race day began at 7am, in less than ideal wet and windy conditions with hundreds of amateur athletes participating in the peoples races including terminal cancer sufferer and superhuman charity fundraisers Jane Tomlinson and her daughters in the sprint race, as well as numerous other celebrities including celebrity chef Jean Christophe Novelli and ITV1 childrens TV programme star Tony Gardner (My Parents are Aliens), however their race stories were to only play second fiddle to the men's and women's elite races.
 
Womens Race
A dominant run from Michelle Dillon saw her take victory in 2h09m05s from Australias  Mirinda Carfrae (2h09m19s) and fellow Brit Liz Blatchford (2h09m22s) at the end of a dramatic race.
 
From the start the British and Australian teams marked their domination on the event with Leanda Cave leading the women out of the water over the timing mat, followed closely by Pip Taylor (Aus), Julie Dibbens (GBR) and Liz Blatchford (GBR).
 
Onto the four-lap, 40km bike the Brits continued to control the race with five athletes in the lead pack, until the third lap when Dibbens and Jodie Swallow went down in a crash. Back into transition at the head of a lead group of ten was Germany's Joelle Franzman, with Michelle Dillon in the chasing group seconds behind.
 
Out of transition and onto the run Michelle Dillon quickly made up the ground on the leaders and by the second of the three lap run had took lead with Cave, Blatchford and Carfrae close behind, only to seal her victory pulling away mid-way on the final lap.
 
On her race Dillon commented: "It was great, I had an amazing race and felt so good on the run. The Salford race is fantastic and the crowd really pulled me along. This has shown me what form I'm in to take forward to Athens".
 
The Mens Race
The mens race once again saw two countries dominate, however this time it was the German and British teams, with Germany's Maik Petzgold taking victory in 1h56m27s with Stuart Hayes (GBR: 1h56m45s) and Steffan Justus (GER: 1h56:51s) just behind.
 
The British team's Richard Stannard and Stuart Hayes exited the water first and lead the main pack out onto the bike, with Hayes and a handful of riders making a decisive break on the third lap.
 
Onto the run Hayes was joined by the two German medallist and from the second lap onwards it was a three horse race with Petzgold making a decisive break on the final lap.
 
Petzgolds victory sealed another fantastic day of racing in Salford, Britains home of World Class Triathlon.
 
For more information on the Salford Triathlon ITU World Cup visit www.trisalford.info