We are heading into the last few weeks of the racing season in most parts of Europe. The biggest races of the year are yet to come though. The World Championships are just around the corner (check out our race preview) and the European Championships are also just about a month away. There haven´t been a lot of races over the last two weeks, but certainly some interesting ones in Austria, Slovakia and of course in England.
In Austria we had the Aloha Tri Traun on the first weekend of August, which unfortunately didn´t attract a lot of aquabike athletes. Patrick WISINGER showed a strong performance in the standard distance race, but with only two more athletes on the startline, the competition wasn´t that big. But even bigger as in the sprint distance race, where Alfred FRIDRIK was the fastest, but also the only aquabike athlete in the race.
Meanwhile in England we had the second race of the St. Neots Triathlon Series. Unfortunately the size of the aquabike field was quite similar. Compared to Traun there was one aquabiker more in the standard distance race, but even one less in the sprint – meaning that not a single competitor started the aquabike race. From the four aquabikers in the standard distance race, it was the only woman who was the fastest. Katheryn MILLER finished about six minutes earlier than the winner of the men´s race Robin WELCH.
However, we did have a few more starters in last weekend´s races. But let´s start with the one race that also saw only three aquabike athletes finishing the race – although it´s probably one of the most spectacular swim bike races on the calendar. Well, actually that´s probably the reason why not more athletes dared to tackle the Aquabike Attack in Slovakia. After a 2,1 km swim in the lake, the race really starts on the bike. 141 kilometres with no less than 2.885 metres elevation gain, with a mountain top finish at Srdiečko, about 1.200 metres above sea level. This is probably the world´s toughest aquabike race this year. Three brave athletes started the race and they all made it to the finishline. Jan BOTKA took the well deserved victory, finishing the race after 6 hours, 12 minutes and 30 seconds. 46 minutes passed, before 2nd placed Jozef UHRIN arrived at the finishline, while Radoslaw RACLAVSKY came in another 36 minutes later. Chapeau to the three finishers of this spectacular race!
In Austria we also had another aquabike race last weekend at the Gerasdorf Triathlon, just a few kilometers outside of Vienna. Gajo BURIC from Serbia took the win after a strong performance in the water. Fastest cyclist Markus BURKERT was able to close the gap on the bike by two minutes, but still missed the win by about two more minutes. Wolfgang POLJANC came in third, three more minutes behind. Fastest woman of the day was Klaudia BALVANOVA, taking the win ahead of Sabine WEINBERGER and Kerstin SCHARINGER.
In England we had the Midnight Man in Dartford, offering aquabike races over full, half and quarter distance. In the full distance race Bethany PROLE was the faster of the only two athletes, showing a strong performance and taking the win in 07:02:39.
Ten athletes finished the middle distance race, with the three podium finishers separated by only about two minutes. Peter MADARASZ was the first of them who came out of the water, three minutes ahead of Adam PHILLIPS and about five minutes ahead of Lawrence WINTERGOLD. During the end of the bike leg, Lawrence came closer and closer, but Peter managed to bring it home, finishing 1:47 ahead of Lawrence, with Adam following only half a minute later. The women´s race wasn´t quite as close. Sara MELA took the win, with Clare ARMSTRONG in second place, coming in about 12 minutes later. Leticia MELO took the third spot on the podium, about 21 minutes behind the winner.
In the quarter distance race it was Charlotte OWEN who was the fastest of the six aquabike athletes, coming in one and a half minute before the winner of the men´s race Thomas SWAIN.
And last but not least we had the standard distance aquabike race at the Bedford Triathlon. Well, what can we say… another race report and another win of Mark YEOMAN. He is certainly the aquabike athlete of the year so far, winning all the eight races he competed in. But not only that. In all of those races he had the fastest swim time as well as the fastest bike time. Chapeau!
Since all the races Mark won have been standard distance races with a rather small field of competitors, the “big points” are still missing – so he is still “only” #15 in the Aquabike Ranking Europe. However, with the World and European Championships yet to come, he´s now the clear leader of the 2022 rankings.
Back to the aquabike race at Bedford Triathlon. Anthony COLLIER took the second place, six and a half minutes behind Mark. Six more minutes later Simon GRAY came in third. The women´s race was won by Ailish GRAY, with Joanne GREEN and Liz WOOLMINGTON coming in second and third.
You can find links to all full results at our aquabike race result search or check out the current Aquabike Ranking Europe.
Chapeau and congratulations to all aquabike finishers of last week´s races!