After his excellent second place in the Salisbury Triathlon Freshwater’s Jack Grundy was invited to compete in the Mazda Blenheim Elite Sprint Triathlon where he finished an outstanding 25 from the 67 elite starters.
The race was held within the confines of the spectacular palace which included a 750metre swim in the lake followed by 3 laps of cycling covering 19.8km and then a two lap 5.4km run. The transition area was situated in Blenheim’s main courtyard making the perfect setting for this event.
The open water swim in the lake was fast and demanding as competitors battled for the best positions with Grundy taking a slightly wider line to keep out of trouble. A time of 10min 18sec saw Jack running the uphill 800m into transition in the middle of the pack.
During the first of the cycle loops the Total Fitness sponsored Grundy had got himself to the front of the third cycle pack containing 10 athletes as they tried to make inroads on the leaders. Into transition for the second time with a 32min 48sec clocking Grundy was placed 32 as they set off on the hilly run circuit.
Heading up the long drive towards the main entrance to Blenheim Jack had passed 7 top athletes in the first half of the run and was still running strongly as they started the second loop. Holding his form right to the finish he recorded 19min 55sec for the run section with a finishing time 1hour 6 min 51sec.
This was a breakthrough performance for Jack as he was competing against the top triathletes in the UK, many who are full time professional athletes and still being only 19 years old has plenty of time to make the progress that is required to make full international status.
Jack now moves up in distance next week where he faces another Elite field in the Windsor Olympic Triathlon.
