UPL Sponsors Susan Hilton in World Triathlon Games The 2005 Triathlon Age Group World Championship took place recently in Honolulu, and consisted of a 1500m sea swim, 40km bike and 10km run. The GB team was chosen from a series of 3 selection races in the UK during the summer. Finishing in the top five in your age group in any of the three races guaranteed a place on the team (with a further 3 places being awarded at the British Triathlon Association’s discretion). The age group world championships are essentially for mature athletes, most of whom hold down a full-time job and train in their spare time. All the races are split into age group categories, so that you only compete against people of your own age (i.e. 19-24, 25-29, 30-34, 35-39 etc etc). The oldest person to complete the race was an 83 year old man, who was selected because he was essentially competing against people in the 80-85 category. It’s a great way to manage the event as it means the sport is very inclusive and remains very competitive no matter what age you are. Susan competed in the Female 25-29 category and was placed 49th out of the 104 worldwide entrants in this category. This was an excellent result and one to be very proud of. After the event Susan had the following words to say about her experience: ‘ I didn't have a good swim as the waves were quite choppy which is something I wasn't used to, and there was also a lot of coral to negotiate around, but I really enjoyed the bike course as it was very scenic and a lot of the course followed the coast so there was a lovely breeze. The run was very hard as the temperature was extremely hot (around 35 degrees with high humidity) but as it was around the streets of Honolulu the crowds support was amazing and really pushed me along.’ UPL want to congratulate Susan on her performance in Honolulu and wish her every success as she trains for the next World Championships in Switzerland in 2006.