A trio of Teignmouth triathletes returned triumphant from the World Triathlon Championships held in Rotterdam, Holland.

Donald Brooks, Henry Irvine and Karen Watkins – all members of Teignbridge Tri’ers – qualified to represent their respective age groups as part of the Great Britain Age Group Team.

Over the weekend of September 17 and 18, Rotterdam was the centre of attention for the triathlon community hosting the World Series Grand Final for elite athletes.

It also hosted the World Championships for juniors, U23s, para-triathletes and age group athletes.

More than 800 British age group triathletes, alongside their rivals from around the world, battled both the Olympic and sprint distance courses all in the hope of securing an elusive world champion title.

Brooks, Irvine and Watkins competed at the Olympic distance course (1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run).

With a total field of approximately 1,800 competitors, the swim took place in the Rijnhaven river basin from which there was a 900m run to the first of the split transitions.

The technical bike course consisted of two laps that followed cycle paths alongside the river and had many exposed and narrow sections which required good bike handling skills. This was followed by a two-lap run that meandered its way through Het Park, finishing under the gantry on the famous blue carpet.

Due to the number of athletes in Brooks’ age group, the group were split into two waves starting seven minutes apart.

Setting off in wave two, Brooks put in a strong performance on the swim to come out of the water in first position. He then worked his way through the tail end of competitors from the previous wave during the bike and run.

Not sure of his overall position, but knowing that the first wave had a very strong field, Brooks kept pushing hard, finishing in a time of 1.56.31, claiming the gold medal and world championship title (40-44 age group).

This follows his securing the European championship title in Kitzbuhel early in the year.

Full story in the Friday, September 29 edition of the Mid-Devon Advertiser / Teignmouth Post