EVESHAM Vale Triathlete Mel Clarke impressed with a fourth-placed age group finish at the European Triathlon Union Long Course Championships.
The race was incorporated into the Challenge Almere event and tested the athletes over a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike and 26.2-mile run – sometimes known as a ‘full triathlon’ or Ironman distance.
Competing as part of the Great Britain age group team, Clarke was fourth in the women’s 50-54 age group with a finishing time of 11 hours, 42 minutes.
This was Clarke’s first attempt at this distance and she was going into the race at the end of a long hard season with a few niggles to contend with.
She said: “This was the most awesome race and, if I’d done some real long distance training all season, I may have appreciated it more on the run.
“With my Achilles tendon injury I incurred one week before the race, I was not even confident Id finish, but I did and with a sub-12-hour first long distance. I’ve got to be happy!”
