With British Triathlon on a high with the recent success of the Brownlee brothers in particular, The Batkin siblings, Freya & Fynn who train with the KTH middle distance squad have both achieved considerable success on the National triathlon stage. This culminated in 12 year old Freya Batkin winning the Tristar 2 girls Inter Regional Triathlon Championships in Strathclyde to become the National Champion.
Freya Batkin proud moment winning the Tristar 2 National Championship
Freya who enjoyed a strong season which has seen her win the East Midlands Triathlon Championship after winning all 5 races she entered, to give her an unassailable lead with two races left. Third place in the Eton Dorney IRC qualifying event against the best athletes from the South of England guaranteed her a starting place for the East Midlands team at the main event in Strathclyde.
The Inter Regional Championships brings together the best triathletes from each region including Scotland and Wales. Each region is represented by 3 boys and 3 girls in Tristar 2 (11yrs - 12yrs) and Tristar 3 (13yrs -14yrs). With individual honours and team titles up for grabs.
The race started with a pontoon dive into the 200 metre swim, always one of the stronger swimmers Freya was straight to the front with one other athlete able to go with her. The two eased away from the field to exit with clear water behind them, in a time of 3.08 mins. The essential transition from water to bike was slick for both athletes enabling them to keep their advantage, and having ridden the course the day before Freya was confident that she could push hard on the bike. The technical undulating circuit suited the stronger more skilful riders with time to be gained by those prepared to attack the hills. The two leaders were fairly evenly matched on the bike and worked together to build a lead of around 40sec by the end of the 4.5k bike.
Transition 2 into the final discipline a 1.8km run was to make the difference to the race. Although both athletes finished the bike together Freya exited transition 2 five seconds in front, with an out and back run of 1.8K left to complete. The gap stayed consistent until the turn around point where Freya kicked for home and stretched her lead. The strong runners where starting to pull back the seconds but Freya had done enough on the swim and bike, with probably her best run of the season to cross the line in 1st place and become the Inter Regional Champion. In doing so, helping the East Midlands team to 3rd place overall.
Brother Fynn, a bottom year athlete in his AG, has been consistently placed in the top 20 of the country’s best young triathletes throughout the season but was not quite able to match his sister on this occasion. Fynn put in a hugely credible performance in the IRC to finish in 25th place overall, siting his poor transition between the swim and the cycle as a particular area where he lost time over his competitors. The transition are critical points to get right, and with Fynn being one of the strongest runners in the series he aims to concentrate on these technical points, as well as his weaker discipline of swimming to improve his standing Nationally next year.
Parents Andy (an Ironman), and Martine Batkin, who site the Harriers as being a big part of Freya & Fynn’s recent improvements, also both run at the Harriers. They were delighted with the success of Freya & Fynn, with hours of training for each event each week, and constant ferrying of them to complete their training, it was just reward that they have a National Champion in their ranks!
Well Done Freya & Fynn!