Sharon to fly GB flag in Spanish duathlon

Sharon will be competing in the sprint race which comprises a 5k run, 20k bike leg and a final 2.5k run and features the notorious Pontevedra hill in the first half of the out and back bike course.

She qualified as a result of her performance at the Clumber Duathlon where she completed the course in one hour, 22 minutes and 30 seconds and joins other club age groupers Jordan Boam and Seamus Allison on recent international duties.

Joining Sharon at Clumber the club fielded a number of athletes competing in both the sprint and standard distance.

In the standard distance race (10k run, 4k bike, 5k run) Adam Ansty was first home for the club in 2:8:54 secs, followed by Dougie Flett in 2:11 exactly and Steve Riggott just 58 seconds later, with Jordan Boam finishing in 2:16:36.

In addition to Sharon’s time, the results for the sprint distance were Seamus Allison, 1:14:02, Sonia Insley 1:28:09 and, in his first full adult race, Cormac Allison 1:35:59.

The club was also well represented at the first major triathlon of the year, the David Lloyd Lincoln Triathlon.

The sprint distance race is held over a 400m swim, 22k bike and 5k run.

First home for Mansfield club was Chris Holmes in 1:07:52, followed in close succession by Chris Shooter and Steve Melhuish in 1:11:02 and 1:11:28 secs respectively.

GB international Jordan Boam was in action again, finishing in 1:13:23 with Daniel Wilson and Mick Bird completing the club’s line-up in 1:24:32 and 1:41:0 4.

In other races Mansfield’s Seamus Allison represented Ireland in the 2014 ETU Sprint Duathlon European Championships in Horst, the Netherlands.

In a large field including some of Europe’s top age group athletes, Seamus knocked eight minutes off his previous best to complete the windy course in 1:10:13, registering a 19 minutes, 30 seconds 5k personal best in the process. And in a warm-up for her GB duties Sharon Barton completed the Stockton duathlon in 1:22: 57.