Pontevedra Long Distance Triathlon – Age Group World Champs Contributed By Team Parcours Member Emma Cockcroft

A couple of weeks ago the Long Distance Triathlon World Championships took place in Pontevedra, Spain both for elite athletes and age groupers. Team Parcours member Emma Cockcroft was competing and took the age group World Championship win! We caught up with her following the result to get the full low down on how it happened for her...



My first taste of age group racing — and I went in with intentions. The build-up wasn’t perfect, but I knew the swim and bike fitness were there.

I was feeling pumped and took on the swim from the gun. First to the turn buoy, then I found a set of faster feed and held on. All the women were set off in one big group after the men’s waves, so we spent most of the river swim dodging through packs of slower swimmers. We got a bit of a helping hand from the current for the first 500m, but then turned into 1500m of upstream graft, with the sun beating down. Came out of the water in second and trotted off for the (surprisingly long) run to T1.

Onto the bike — three laps of a varied loop. Some crit-style corners, a long draggy climb, and what I thought would be a fast flat stretch… only to be met with what felt like 100 speed bumps. It was heating up, but the course kept me occupied. Off the bike with a decent buffer. Now: time to run 30k in 34 degrees.

The run was survival mode. Legs felt like planks. Aid stations and hosepipes became my new best mates. Day was made when they found ice on lap 3. I was holding onto the overall age grouper lead until the last lap when I got passed by two others, thankfully both in different age groups, but my own category was closing in. With 2.5k to go, Rob (husband/ top tier sideline support crew) let me know I had five minutes to second. Just had to hold it together and soak up the last section of the course through the town.

Crossed the line hot, dehydrated, but buzzing. Age group world champ. Job done

First time racing age group event, and I loved it. If you get the chance — do it. Just maybe not in 34 degrees.