Let’s start with a few words from Jorge Garcia. Jorge is the Spanish Triathlon Federation Director of Events. So anything big and international that happens in Spain is overseen by him to make sure it meets the top standards expected. He is also the Chair of the ETU Technical Committee. With over 930 athletes taking part over two days and with athletes from 16 nations making their way to the race it was indeed fortunate that Jorge was on hand for the second day of racing.

“Alcobendas, a great venue for a great Duathlon European Championships. The neighbour city of Madrid, hosted a great European Championships, in a really bad weather conditions on Sunday for the AG Events
We designed a really fantastic venue, that was amazing specially during the Elite events, that was so crowded, that the athletes could feel the spectators closed by. We were ready for another great day on Sunday but the weather conditions, moved us into a continuously alert mode, that at one point we were forced to remove all the branding, and apply the contingency plan for the medical assistance into the bike course, as well as the city of Alcobendas, opened all the facilities in the sports centre to keep the athletes safe and in warm conditions. With this scenario, we called the NF coaches, in order to cancel the Relay event, due to the circumstances, and that after hot and sunny weeks, the roads were too much slippery and the wind so strong, that we didn’t want to take unnecessary risks. Also the AG awards ceremony was moved to the inside of the sports center, to close an event, where from the LOC side we did whatever we could under really difficult circumstances, but the athletes in general realized that they were competing in a really good event. Thanks to all the athletes for their support”.

So for anyone running in Madrid over that other big race, who saw the hundreds of athletes at the airport, the people you saw were duathletes who had been out in the same weather conditions as you were but had been running, biking and then running.

Once again it was Team GB who were most visible. Under the watchful eye of Joan Lennon, the Sprint and Standard Teams, amounting to 404 athletes were sent off to their start lines wearing their national race uniforms. The return flights may well have resulted in excess baggage charges with the massive haul of 72 medals. British Triathlon reported, “Battling incredibly tough weather conditions along the route meant that many duathletes were forced out of racing, making the British medal haul ever the more impressive.  Joan added, ‘It was like no other event before. The conditions were nothing like I’ve ever experienced at a championships. We had about 40% first-timers who had never pulled on GB kit before and were overjoyed with the experience however, despite the weather. The course would have been fantastic on a dry day, which sadly we didn’t have’.” A look down the results for the Sprint races showed that with the exception of the male 30-34 and 35-39 categories where GB won no medals, (come on chaps, back to the drawing board), GB won medals in every category. They had clean sweeps, taking all the medals, in 5 categories and in the Male 55-59 race it was a massive sprint for the line between Eduardo Rodriguez and Simon Phillips, with silver being awarded to the Spaniard who just edged ahead.

Spain took 20 medals in the Sprint with a clean sweep in the 35-39 age group. Other golds were shared by Germany, Ireland, Italy and France.

The Standard distance saw another 33 medals go to GB, with clean sweeps in three categories. In only two age groups did GB fail to reach the podium. The host nation saw 18 medals stay on Spanish soil and a clean sweep once again in the 35-39 Men’s category. Other golds were won by Austria and France.

Age Group racing is the backbone of our sport. OK, so the media will always focus on the Elite but without the grass-root races every weekend, without the determination of Age Group athletes to run / bike / run, swim / bike / run, swim / run, or run / MTB and ski, then our sport would falter. The next big AG event will be on 24th May and in Rimini for the ETU Challenge European Half Distance Championships, then Cologne on 27th June for the ETU European Aquathlon Championships and then on the weekend in July, 9th to 13th, in Geneva for the ETU European Triathlon Championships.

We look forwards to seeing you there.

Once again a stunning set of photos have been provided by the Spanish Federation and their photographer, Yeray Menéndez
AG photos