Many congratulations to Head Swimming coach, Mr Castro, who added a bronze medal to his growing international honours at the 2023 Europe Triathlon Championships (35-39 age group) in Madrid, Spain on Saturday 3rd June.
The event was scheduled to be a standard distance triathlon consisting of a 1,500m swim, 40km bike and a 10km run, however, due to poor water quality in the lake the evening before the race the decision was made to revert to duathlon format, which meant a 5km run, 40km bike and 10km run.
Usually as a swimmer this format does not suit Mr Castro, but the evening before he injured his foot navigating around the apartment he was staying in. Starting with a run meant he could wear socks and shoes from the beginning and avoid any sand and grit getting in the wound.
Despite limping to the race venue to set up, Mr Castro was determined to race and embrace the new format. After a busy group start of all of the 35-44 males, he ran strongly to finish the first run in 5th place in his age group and was quickly out onto the bike course. On the bike, he immediately got into a good rhythm on a tricky course and moved into first place with the fastest bike split in his age group. It was then back through transition onto the final run. This is where the leg fatigue of the first run began to hit, combined with the midday heat of Madrid.
However, Mr Castro powered through the final four laps and came home to take the bronze medal! It was a really tough race in difficult circumstances, and certainly not the race he expected, so to come away with a bronze medal and a qualification spot for the European Championships in 2024 is a great achievement!
Mr Castro reflected: “This was one of my toughest international medals. Sometimes unexpected things happen including race format changes and last-minute mishaps, but you just have to do what you can, race the race in front of you, and move on to the next one. I do feel like I potentially could have placed higher if we had had a swim, but everyone is in the same situation and you just have to get on with it!”
You can view his international honours here.
