Lewis Byram of Holmfirth Harriers is British Duathlon champion for a second time.
He landed the Elite Junior Men’s crown at the British Triathlon Championships at Windsor Great Park with a time of 56min 58sec.
And Byram has been selection to represent Great Britain in the European Duathlon Championships in Kalkar, Germany, on April 16.
Byram was towards the head of the field – they were followed a minute later by the Elite Junior Women, including his twin sisters Erica and Lucy who have just stepped up to that category – and he led the men back on the second lap of the 5k run.
He was first out of transition, quickly followed by a group of eight athletes, for the 20k bike ride and he managed to create a gap along with another athlete, Will Crudington.
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After four laps of an undulating and challenging circuit, the two went through the second transition and into the final 2.5k run shoulder to shoulder.
Byram stretched out on the run and, before the turn around point, managed to get a gap.
He then headed towards the finish area with appreciative support to take the gold, from Crudington (57-12) and Jack Bond (57-32).
Meanwhile, still out on the course were the Junior Women, and Holmfirth’s Lucy Farquhar came off the bike and onto the run alongside Erica Byram, having worked well together in the chase pack.
Towards the turn around point, Farquhar pulled away from Erica, showing her endurance experience at this distance – this was twice what the Byram twins have been used to.
Lucy Byram went into the final run section having worked hard out on the bike course on her own for the four laps.
Farquhar had a fantastic second run and finished strongly in a time of 1hr 7min 19sec for 10th position, with Erica not too far back with a good run and finishing 12th (1-7.43). Lucy Byram finished with a solid second run after suffering breathing difficulties on the first run, crossing in 1-13.34.
The winner, Serena O’Connor, finished in 1-05.06.
In the Para Duathlon, Richard McLeod looked strong as he finished the first of the runs and headed towards transition.
After a great bike ride, he went out onto the final run safely in second position, which is where he finished in a superb performance.
The Youth race was over a shorter distance of 2.5k run, 10k bike ride and 1.25k run and Fionn Kerry was up against a tough field of athletes, this his first Elite Duathlon having just moved up to the Youth age group.
Kerry had a strong first run and was in the second group heading to transition, maintaining that position on the bike.
He managed to pick up a couple of places with a strong finish in the last run and finished 34th in a time of 34-46. Winner was Matthew Willis (31-21).
