Great Britain’s Lucy Gossage took victory at Challenge Barcelona-Maresme in under 09:00 hours, breaking the course record and posting the fastest time ever by a female athlete on Spanish soil while Dutchman Bas Diederen earned his first win in his long distance career.
The Long Distance Triathlon Spanish Championship titles were also decided with Gurutze Frades defending her title won in 2011 and Miquel Blanchart scoring the victory in the men’s category.
The out of the 3.8 km swim was Spaniard Carlos López in 47:50, accompanied by Stanislav Krylov, Stephen Bayliss and Miquel Blanchart in 6th position. The bike course, led by Bas Diederen, decided the course of the race with the Dutchman continuing to hang onto the lead throughout the run taking the fourth edition of Challenge Barcelona-Maresme in a time of 8:20:07, whereas Spaniards Raúl Amatriain and Miquel Blanchart, who were both after the Spanish Champion title, fought neck and neck in an exciting run finally won by Catalan Miquel Blanchart
Lucy Gossage, who delivered a record time of 8:58:43, was the great surprise of the womens’ category “When I competed in the first edition of Challenge Barcelona-Maresme in 2009, my time was 20 minutes longer, I am very happy with today’s result, it was incredible, the conditions were perfect and I very much enjoyed the whole circuit.”
There was also a touch of romance with Spanish long distance champion, Miquel Blanchart thanking the crowd, his family and friends for their support along the way to achieving the Spanish championship and above all his fiancée Susana, to whom he then proposed – she said yes!
Challenge Family triathlon returns to Barcelona-Maresme in May 2013 for the Half Challenge Barcelona and the official ETU European Half Distance Triathlon Championships.
Challenge Barcelona is part of the Challenge Family international series of long distance triathlons that features 12 races over three continents including the world's largest iron distance race, Challenge Roth and races in Canada, France, Spain, UK, New Zealand, Austria and Denmark.
RESULTS
MEN
1. BAS DIEDEREN (NED) 8:20:07
2. GEORG SWOBODA (AUT) 8:22:14
3. PER BITTNER (GER) 8:22:47
WOMEN
1. LUCY GOSSAGE (GBR) 8:58:43
2. MIRJAM WEERD (NED) 9:07:25
3. DANIELA SAMMLER (GER) 9:11:55
