Middle distance squad member Fynn Batkin’s triathlon season continues to go from strength to strength with his best showing so far in the Hetton Lyons Super Series race. His previous results this season being-9th British Duathlon Champs, 15th Llanelli, 4th Leeds and 5th Eton Dorney meant he went into Hetton in 5th place overall in the 6 race championship.
Hetton was to be run in a new format with heats and finals. The first priority being to make the top 12 in each heat to progress to the A final.
Fynn finished a very comfortable 5th place in his heat, racing smartly and able to conserve as much energy as possible, even walking over the finish line!
The final was set to be fast and furious, with short distances of 300m, swim 8km bike and 1.8km run. Any mistakes would mean no time to catch up. Fynn had a reasonable swim, exiting the water in 6th place and crucially only a few seconds behind the leaders. On the bike section a group of 10 riders formed. With any breaks quickly being pulled back meaning the race being one for the runners. A superfast transition (T2) from series leader Dan Dixon saw him quickly build a 5 second lead over Fynn and 2 other athletes that they were unable to bridge. These 3 were now in a battle for the podium. Kicking hard with 100 metres to go, Fynn managed to hold on for 2nd place, resulting in his first podium and highest placed finish at National level.
Fynn Baktin powering his way to his first podium finish.
To cap a fine day he then helped the East Mids regional team to the gold medal in the mixed relay race.
Well done to Fynn on his continued success.