TRIPURBECK and GoalSpecific athletes Fran Bungay and Liz Hall have both qualified to race for Great Britain at the Ironman 70.3 World Championships, to be held in Austria in August.

Racing at the Staffordshire Ironman 70.3 event along with several members of the club, Bungay led the field in the 40-44 age group out on to the bike course and the Planet X-sponsored athlete went to work posting a bike split that was faster than six of the pro athletes in the race.

She built an unassailable lead and came home 10 minutes ahead of the next athlete in her category, topping the podium for the first time in an Ironman event.

Hall also made the podium in the 45-49 age group, finishing third and securing her slot in the Austrian race.

John Skilton raced to a 70.3 personal best after a solid swim, despite taking a slight detour, an excellent ride on a hilly, windy course and he finished with a consistent run.

Cheryl Weeks and Simon Carvisiglia raced as a team, finishing 31st in the race.

While the adults were battling it out in Staffordshire, some of the Tripurbeck juniors were racing in the Dorset Schools Championships.

Jed Skilton competed in two 800m competitions and was placed first in both. Serena O’Connor ran the 3,000m and also won the competition. An excellent performance from both, on top of their previous week’s successes where O’Connor won the Poole Festival of Running 10k in 36.30, and Skilton, even younger, finished second in the 5k in 17:54.