Home Nation Gold for triathlete Melanie Clarke

Melanie Clarke took on the some of the best triathletes in the country at the Deva middle distance triathlon on Sunday as part of the Home Nation championships. With a 1900m river swim to start, over half of which was upstream, she then raced 87km on the bike course and finished with a 21km run at the event in Chester.

The Evesham Vale Triathlete’s time of 5 hours and 6 minutes earned her the gold medal as fastest English athlete in her age group for the Home Nation Championships. She also finished close behind a Scottish rival to take second place in the overall race for her age group.

Melanie’s result was made all the more remarkable considering she was involved in a major car crash earlier in the week which left her shaken and unsure whether she would race at all. Melanie said that “I didn’t decide to race until Saturday morning so arrived in Chester a little disorganised, slept in my car then had a fantastic race!”. Not only did she make the podium but she also clocked a personal best for the distance.

The race was all part of her preparations for the European championships taking place in Romania next month and given this result it’s clear that her training has been going very well.