Smales Finishes 5th in Waterlogged Castle Howard Triathlon

Another of our sponsored athletes were competing again at the weekend. This time it was Elliott Smales, the 17-year-old Triathlete who was out in the water, on the bike and then onto the run as he competed in the Castle Howard Triathlon.

Elliott was pitted against a tough field of over 200 competitors in the Olympic distance Triathlon which includes a 1.5km swim, a 40km bike ride before concluding with a 10km run to the finish. One of the opposition was none other than Great British athlete, David Bishop.

Ellott Smales, Sheffield Triathlon Club

It looked like there wasn't going to be a race after a deluge of rain caused the car park to be unusable. However, hats off to all of the organisers who relocated the transition. The change to the route gave one of the longest swim to cycle transitions for the competitors had to run 1,000m to T1.

Undeterred by all that, Elliott exited the 1.5km swim in the lake in 6th place. Next it was onto the cycle after negotiating the gruelling bare foot transition. The route wasn't as flat as Elliott would have wanted but he managed to be less than a minute behind Sheffield Triathlon Club team-mate, Andy Turner, is a great testament to all of the hard work that Elliott has put in during the winter months which has seen Elliott's confidence on the bike grow considerably.

During the bike leg, Elliott managed to move up to 5th to put him into a great position heading into the 10km run. Elliott managed to dig deep and held onto the 5th place but it really took a lot out of the youngster!

Elliott came over the line in a time of 2:30:36 which was just 13 minutes shy of the time of GB athlete, David Bishop.

Upon completion of the race, Elliott consumed his nouriSH me now to aid him in his recovery... and it certainly looked like he needed it!

From all at nouriSH me now, well done Elliott!