Well done to Cowes-based Gary Kurth, who has recently competed in the European Triathlon Championships.
Gary, who has worked for UKSA for the last eight years, used to race for Wight Tri but has been racing for TRIUK since last year. Ed
Last week Gary Kurth competed in the first major race of the triathlon season representing, Great Britain in the European Triathlon Championships.
Held in Eilat
The event was held in Israel’s Red Sea resort town of Eilat and attracted over a thousand competitors from across the European community.
The warm waters and perfect road surfaces promised for some fast racing although the infamous desert winds took their toll on the athletes compounded by the near 40deg heat resulting in some athletes having to withdraw from the race.
Racing through the desert
Kurth showed his good form in the 1500m swim and exited in a group of three over a minute ahead of the rest of the field in a time of 20min.
A long run through the town to the first transition was made slightly more welcome with the presence of multiple fresh water showers along the route.
Once on the bike and racing through the desert the heat and winds started taking their toll and Kurth lost the lead and suffered a four minute loss by the time they approached the second transition.
Strong heat and winds
Heading out onto the run, again the heat and winds were building as the morning progressed resulting in some slower than expected times with only a dozen athletes managing to dip under the 40 min mark for the six mile run.
Final results had Kurth finishing in fifth place for the men’s 30-34 age group and 19th overall in a time of 2.09:12 for the 1500m swim, 40km bike and 10km run.
As TRIUK’s Gary was also the second British male to finish, he has earned himself an automatic qualification for next year’s European Championships to be held in Turkey.
