Cop that for a win in as Al sprints home in Tri

Evening Chronicle (Newcastle, England), June 17, 2009

THE Wansbeck Sprint Triathlon, hosted by Tyne Tri, a new event on the North East race calender was staged in the Queen Elizabeth II Country Park in Amble.

Athletes had to tackle a 750m lake swim, a 23km bike ride and a flat 5km trail run around the lake.

In the men's race, Alan Copland posted the fastest swim in 12.15, followed home 20 seconds later by Adam Chmielowski (12.34), with Steven Proud of the host club third in 13.25.

In the cycling stage, Copland (34.37) powered through the wind and rain to extend his lead to more than two minutes.

Eliott Gowland (Total Racing Int) put in the second-fastest bike split to move into fourth for 35.40.

Copland is equally strong at all three disciplines a d posted the third-quickest run split of the day (18.53) to comfortably finish first in 1.07.00.

West managed to pull back a minute on Copland (17.41) - but it was not enough as he settled for second in 1.08.35.

Chmielowski (19.11) ran a good race, hanging on to third place in 1.10.29. Phil Smith of Total Racing was fourth in 1.11.11, with Ian Simon (Alnwick Tri) taking fifth in 1.11.40.

In the women's race, two athletes made an early break and carved out a solid lead over the chasers, with Michelle Scott of Darlington Tri (13.35) just edging out Lisa Tweddle (13.37) for top spot.

Emma Pearson of Alnwick Tri exited the water in third in 15.07.

Tweddle upped the pace on the cycling stage to move into the lead (43.54), putting time into the field to enter T2 with a strong advantage.

Scott held on to second (46.06), but Emma Pearson (45.14) and Jane Mooney (45.45) started to close the gap.

With very fast runners in the race, victory was still was not decided - but Tweddle (23.59) had just enough time in hand to win overall in 1.23.17.

Mooney (19.57) made a spirited attempt to bridge the gap, but finished second in 1.23.30.

Scott (22.17) enjoyed a consistent race to be third in 1.23.54, edging out Pearson for fourth in 1.24.06 with Tracey Sample (Alnwick Tri) fifth in 1.27.26.