It wasn’t just a good weekend for British triathletes in Cape Town as the paratriathlete squad won two gold and two silver medals at the ITU World Paratriathlon Event in Penrith, Australia.

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The course was a sprint distance (750m swim, 20km run, 5k run) and the two golds were won by George Peasgood (PT4) and Andy Lewis (PT 2), while the silvers were won by Joe Townsend and Clare Cunningham (PT4)won silver, collectinvaluable ranking points that will help qualify slots for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games. Unfortunately, Lauren Steadman was unable to start due to illness.

Peasgood used his swim and bike strength to set up a big lead, which he held on to during the run, and won by a comfortable margin of well over a minute from Alexander Yalchik of Russia, while in his section Andy Lewis was an emphatic winner, being the fastest swimmer, cyclist and runner on the day.

Joe Townsend finished second behind five-time ITU world champion, Bill Chaffey of Australia in the PT1 event. Afghanistan veteran, Townsend was the fastest over the bike and run sections, but Chaffey’s superior swim set up his victory. After a strong start Clare Cunningham she lost time on the bike, but ran well to secure silver.

The next round of the ITU World Paratriathlon Event Series will coincide with the ITU World Triathlon Series event in Yokohama, 14-15 May.

The results

PT1 Men
1. Bill Chaffey, AUS, 58:53
2. Joseph Townsend, GBR, 1:00:43
3. Benjamin Lenatz, GER, 1:08:11