Centre member Yiannis competed at the 2024 Europe Triathlon Middle Distance Championships in the 40-44 male age group, with the Championship taking place in Coimbra, Portugal on Saturday 22nd June.
Yiannis finished 3rd in his age group, with an overall time of 04:14:59. The Championship included an 1.9km swim, 90km cycle followed by a 21km run.
He said “I went into this race just to enjoy it with no targets and hopefully to have a good race. I built into the swim and got in a small group, we were able to work with each other, as I pushed the pace in the 2nd half of the swim”.
When Yiannis got on the bike it was getting very warm, the course had some little hills but was generally fast with lots of flat sections. He was holding the bike well and was in 3rd for a while. A group went past him who where drafting (a speed boost by lining up their bikes) but then he caught them up, as they were in the penalty box when he went passed. On the 4th lap on the bike, Yannis was feeling good and decided to ease off as he needed to save his legs for the run. By this time, it was getting very warm and he was concerned about over doing it.
After the cycle, Yiannis started his run and he started well. He kept to the his target heart rate, although he lost places on the bike he caught them up and passed them on the run. Yiannis said “I was making lots of time and felt strong, it was really hot on the run and at every water station I was throwing water over me to cool down. I was running well, I knew I might be close to the podium at this point but by mile 12 I started to get extremly hot and started to slow a little”. He continued to throw water over himself and crossed the finish line with a Bronze Medal. Yiannis finised the race with the second fastest run in the whole competition.