French test for York Triathlon Club (From York Press)

French test for York Triathlon Club

10:01am Wednesday 19th September 2012 in Sport

Three athletes from the York Triathlon Club will compete in this weekend’s World Duathlon Championships in Nancy, France.

David Thomas, Mark Lawrence and Sean McDermott will all take to the streets of the French city centre to take on the ten-kilometre run, 40k bike ride, and five-k run on a closed road circuit to compete against athletes from across the globe.

This is the second successive year that McDermott, who will compete in the 55 to 59 age group category, has taken part in this event, having finished 13th in last year’s championships in Gijon, Spain with a time of two hours, 12 minutes and ten seconds.

McDermott has also enjoyed much success in the Triathlon, having competed in the World Championships in Beijing last year.

Club-mates Thomas and Lawrence will compete in the 30 to 34 age group category, both having qualified at regional events earlier in the year.

Along with McDermott, Thomas booked his place at the World Championships at Dambuster Duathlon in the East Midlands in March, while Lawrence qualified courtesy of a roll-down place following a 26th finish at Oulton Park Duathlon, also in March.

York Triathlon Club chairman Terry Lightfoot is confident of the club members doing well in Nancy.

“All three athletes have been performing well during the season so are in great form to achieve success”, he said.

The York Triathlon Club is just two years old, having formed back in 2010, but has already had some great success stories – most notably when Phillip Graves claimed the Ironman UK 70.3 title at Wimbleball on Exmoor in June.