EVESHAM Vale triathlete Melanie Clarke wrapped up a successful week for the club with a fine performance at the Middle Distance European Triathlon Championship.
The event took place on the final day of a week-long competition which earlier saw two club members earn medals in their duathlon competition.
Unfortunately, on the Saturday the Mediterranean weather did not hold and a large storm hit the island of Ibiza. With thunder, lightning and flash flooding, the start was delayed by 90 minutes and the bike course had to be cut short for safety reasons.
Clarke said: “I was obviously disappointed that my main strength – the bike leg – had been halved from 90km down to 45km but relieved we were going to be able to race at all as at one stage it looked unlikely.”
Clarke had a great race as a strong swim and bike leg meant she came into T2 in second place, but then lost some places on a challenging run leg in which competitors had to scale the Ibiza castle walls four times.
Clarke finished fifth in her age group.