BUSTINSKIN duo Karl Alexander and Lizzie Hutson have qualified for the Ironman World Championships, which is scheduled to be held in Kona, Hawaii on October 8.

The two triathletes were part of a 17-strong team from the Weymouth-based club that recently took part in the UK Ironman in Bolton, which heralded some tremendous results, particularly for first-timers like Mike Luke, Steve Luke, Casey Foot, Mike Organ, Tracey Baker, Tris Best, Will Adams, Lindsey Hubbard, Mark Steen and Will Barrett, who had never competed over the distance before.

However, it was associated club members Alexander and Hutson that grabbed the headlines, completing the 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile bike ride and 26.2-mile run in 9hrs 50mins 53secs and 10hrs 12mins 31secs respectively.

Those excellent times in the 30-34 section saw Alexander secure 38th overall and seventh male in category, and Hutson come home in 69th overall and finish first female in category, which was enough to secure both of them qualification for the worlds showpiece.

More than 1,500 triathletes took part in the UK Ironman, which was watched by an estimated crowd of 30,000, who were dotted all around the gruelling course.

The race is scheduled to be broadcast on Channel 4 at 7am on Sunday and club founder Steen was full of admiration for every one of the BustinSkin participants.

He said: “From all of the clubs in the country, we, BustinSkin, had the most participants and to see two of our associated club members qualify for the World Championships was just fantastic.

“I would also like to give a special mention to Alan Beavers who had the fastest time of all the official club members to secure a fantastic result in his age group (10th) and finish 199th overall.

“Several of the group also did the event in aid of the Weldmar Hospicecare Trust and donations can still be made by visiting justgiving.com/LindseyHubbard.”