A couple of triathletes had superb races at the Sprint Distance World Championships in Hamburg, Germany recently.

Helen Faubel, and Martin Rogers qualified for this prestigious event last summer and used the pool in Cheddar Fitness Centre up to four times a week, cycled on the Mendip Hills and ran in the Sharpham Road Playing fields parkrun and Burnham & Highbridge parkrun in preperation for the run.

The Age Group World Championships are known for attracting top-tier athletes, including Olympic medallists, making the competition fierce and the stakes high.

With a 750m swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run – sprint triathlon is the ultimate test of skill and determination and involves a fine balance of speed and endurance and the pain had good races.

Rogers, who has taken part in seven previous international triathlon and duathlon championships, dating back to his first in Edinburgh in 2010, finished 16th out of 88 in the Male over-55-59 category and was the first British athlete to cross the line. 

Faubel, who has competed at international level twice before in the World Championships in Chicago 2015 and European Championships in Dusseldorf in 2017, was also 16th out of 72 participants in the Female over-45-49 age group and was the fifth Brit in this category.