TRIATHLETES from across the country participated in the Bustinskin Weymouth Middle Distance Triathlon on Sunday as course records were shattered in each distance.

James Elgar, from Newport and East Wales Triathlon Club, won the ‘middle’ category in four hours, 23 minutes and 44 seconds, beating home competitor Giles Heaman by exactly three and a half minutes, with Justin Butler in third.

The event was split into three distances – sprint, classic and middle – with the middle being the longest and comprising a 1.9km swim in Weymouth Bay, a 91km cycle and a half-marathon.

A total of 94 triathletes participated in the middle classification, 99 in the classic and 50 in the sprint.

Home triathlete Luke Voss of BustinSkin won the classic discipline in 1:57.40 and was the only competitor to break two hours, while Harry Buttle of Leweston Triathlon won the sprint event in 1:04.56.

Bustinskin head Mark Steen told Echosport the triathlon was the club’s “fastest” ever race in all three distances.

He said: “It was a great success and a cracking race. All the competitors were amazing. It was our fastest race over sprint, classic and middle distances.

“The course records went on all of them.

“All the team did amazing and we have got some amazing marshals at our club.

“It’s one of the fastest growing sporting events out there and tickets are selling out long before they used to.”

The next event on the BustinSkin calendar is the Weymouth Sprint and Classic triathlon on Sunday, August 20, with Steen urging budding triathletes “to get on with it pretty quickly” as only 50 tickets are available.