Horton celebrated victory after completing the sprint distance course in 54:16 to finish 10 seconds clear of Calum Johnson in 54:26, while former Commonwealth Games representative, Liam Lloyd, clocked 54:35 to take the final podium spot.
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Horton said: “Being crowned national champion feels really good, it’s taken a while to become a senior champion but it’s a big relief to finally win this event. I knew that there would be some strong boys racing today such as Calum Johnson and Liam Lloyd, along with a number of others, but a group of seven of us got away on the bike and we worked together really well.
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“The course was really cool, it was challenging but a really interesting venue compared to previous National Duathlon Championships.”
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In the women’s event, reigning ITU Duathlon World Champion, Emma Pallant, won for for the third year in succession in a time of 1:02:57, over a minute clear of former Olympian and Pallant’s coach, Michelle Dillon who finished in 1:04:02. Gillian Palmer took bronze in 1:04:14.
Pallant said: “It was a great experience to be racing with my coach (Michelle Dillon), I had fun out on the course and the event went really well. This year I’m aiming to defend my World Duathlon Championship title as well as having a go at 70.3 racing. I’ve got a huge amount to learn, having never time-trialled before but I’m really excited about getting a year of experience in.”
In the British Elite Paraduathlon Championships, Bret Crossley (PT1) was the first across the line, finishing the race in 1:04:30 to fend off Mark Conway, who finished in second. Lizzie Tench picked up the women’s PT1 honours.
Tench said: “I’m absolutely thrilled to bits with the win today. Having just found out that PT1 racing will be involved in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, it’s a real goal to aim for and races like this are great to prepare. I really enjoyed it. It’s a beautiful park. A tough course, but I enjoyed it.”
PT4 athlete, Chris Frost, won his category, as did Faye McClelland (PT4) in the women’s race; pipping Ruth Wilson to the post.
McClelland said: “It was a really tough race today, I had Ruth (Wilson) by my side the whole way which kept me on my toes. The bike was undulating, so that was quite challenging, but all in all it was really good.”
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