Hyde Park racing royalty

Delly Carr / triathlon.org

No the Queen wasn't on the start line yesterday (although I have it on good authority she'd wear blueseventy if she was).  It was the royalty of triathlon women's racing on display yesterday for the Dextro ITU World Championships race in London.

The field was 68 deep and consisted of some of the biggest names in the sport including the winners of all the previous series races; Barbara Riveros Diaz (Sydney), Daniela Ryf (Seoul), Nicola Spirig (Madrid), and Lisa Norden (Hamburg), plus other top series contenders such Emma Moffat (No. 1 ranking) and Andrea Hewitt (No.2).

The swim was hard and fast, with Nicky Samuels commenting that the distance to the first buoy was very short meaning that the large pack at the turn resulted in a 'violent swim'.  Laura Bennett led out of the first lap of the swim and through to T1, where a group consisting of strong swimmers including Jodie Swallow, Kate Roberts and Paula Findlay headed out on to the bike eventually creating a lead group of 24 women who had more than half a minute on the second pack.

It was an exciting run with the lead pack of six women battling hard over the run, before dwindling to just four.  Someone was going to miss out on a podium spot in the close finish.  In the end 21 year old Paula Findlay managed to create a small gap in the last km of the race, running through to take the win - her first ever major victory.  Her run split of 33.51 was the fastest of the day.

Nicola Spirig took second, Helen Jenkins third (for the 2nd year in a row) and Andrea Hewitt was the unlucky one to miss the podium spot from the pack of four.

Delly Carr / triathlon.org

It was a good day for our blueseventy girls with three making the top 10:
Paula Findlay CAN (Gold) 01:51:48
Jodie Swallow GBR (7th) 01:52:45
Kate Roberts RSA (8th) 01:53:04

You can read the full race review on the ITU website here.