In a spectacular race, which included athletes racing past the world-famous Big Ben and Tower Bridge and across the city centre of central London, world-class athletes Sam Laidlow and Fenella Langridge just lived up to their role as favorites. Both athletes went home with resounding victories.
For Sam Laidlow, his dominance began pretty quickly; after the swim he came out of the water at the front of the race and on the bike he immediately rode away from everyone. On his own, he bicycled through the center of London at breakneck speed to start the closing half marathon with a comfortable lead.
Afterwards he called the 21 kilometers ‘mentally tough’ though, because there were six laps to complete, but he did it with great success and managed to give chasing men like James Teagle and Joshua Lewis no chance to get closer. In the end, Laidlow won the race in a time of 3:29:31, while Teagle was second in 3:32:17 and Lewis third in 3:34:02. Afterwards, all three athletes spoke of a very special experience to be able to race through a metropolis like London. You can see the interviews here:
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Fenella Langridge – Best of the best
The same goes for the women’s winner: Fenella Langridge was supreme. Right from the start she took the lead during the swim and until the finish she would not see anyone again. Behind her a lot was happening and plenty of position changes were taking place, but it was pretty soon clear that nobody could keep Langridge from her victory. She took it in a time of 4:02:11.
While Susie Cheetham and Lizzie Rayner kept the best connection on the bike, they had to conclude during the run that they were not strong enough for a podium place today. Among others, they were overtaken by South African Magda Niewoudt, who finished second in 4:08:33 and wants to focus fully on the Challenge Family World Bonus, for which she did good business today. Third was Dutch Els Visser; she lost some time on the bike by briefly taking a wrong turn, but during the run she came from sixth to third position. Visser finished in 4:09:26. Make sure to check the interviews here:
