Erica Hawley and Tyler Smith competed in the British Youth Elite Championships at Eton Dorney, UK.
The British Youth Elite Championships was the final race of the series and attracted a strong field in both the Youth Men and Women race.
Hawley and Smith raced over a 450 meter Swim, 10.6K Draft Legal Bike and a 2.5K Run. It was a dive start off a pontoon with the swim aggressive in both of their races.
Smith had a good swim exiting in main pack in a time of 6:03, but fell behind the main pack on the Bike due to a problem with his Cycling shoe. He worked hard in the trailing pack, but the main pack was too strong and he could not catch the pack as he completed the course in a time of 17.52, Smith clocked a time of 9:05 on the Run Course, finishing 28th with an overall time of 35.51.
Hawley had a disappointing Swim and missed the main pack as well, she came out of the water after clocking a time of 6:37, she tried to attack to bridge to this main pack from the pack she was in but no-one came with her to try this. In the windy conditions it was going to be difficult to bridge the bike packs, as Hawley recorded time of 19:35 on the Bike Course. Hawley then covered the Bike Course in a time of 10:30 finishing 20th overall with a time of 38:37.
Despite disappointing elements in their race they both showed great racing strength to push as hard as possible into the run and through the finish.
Smith and Hawley are expected to continue building from this and be racing both the Super Sprint Draft Legal races as well as full Sprint Distance, Draft Legal races next year.