Ocean Lava Wales Middle Distance and the Wales Sprint Triathlon 2015 is an event run by Activity Wales Events, incorporating two different distance triathlons into one day.

Ocean Lava is a middle distance race - 1.2-mile swim/ 56 miles bike and a 13.1-mile run. The top 18 athletes qualify for a free place at this year’s ocean Lava final in Lanzarote on November 1, with six lucky dip slots also up for grabs. At the same time, the Wales Sprint Triathlon takes place which sees athletes complete a 750m-swim, 13-mile bike and four-mile run.

The new ramp finish was unveiled at the event giving athletes a huge boost heading down the red carpet towards the stage finish line!

The Wales Sprint triathlon saw a close race between the top 10, with the first female, Carol Bridge (Rhondda Triathlon Club) heading out onto the run in second place overall, behind Alex Matchett the first place winner. Des Devlin and Chris McCormack both managed to catch Carol Bridge on the run and over take her to secure a podium finish. Carol finished four seconds behind third place Chris McCormack, which saw her take fourth position overall and first female.

A great race by Carol, who had a spare 16 minutes before second place female Claire Manson crossed the line. With very impressive splits of 11.56 swim, 38.58 bike and 20.08 run, Carol Bridge had a huge lead in the women’s race the entire way round the sprint course.

The winners of the Wales Sprint relay were Team Baddies with a time of 1.33.35, followed closely by Team Barnaby’s Angels, the first place junior relay team, with a time of 1.34.28.

The junior first place went to Tom Kinnear, with a time of 1.28.02, while two minutes behind was Tom’s older brother Billy who secured second place with a time of 1.30.07.

Top three male athletes for the Wales Sprint Triathlon were: 1. Alex Matchett (1.10.45); 2. Des Devline  (1.11.52); 3. Chris McCormack (1.12.10).

Top three female athletes for the Wales Sprint Triathlon: 1. Carol Bridge (1.12.14); 2. Claire Manson (1.28.05); 3. Karina Ebsworth (1.28.39).

In the Ocean Lava Wales middle distance qualifying race, last year’s champion Oliver Simon came out of the water second (28.43), following James Grandfield with his very quick swim split of 28.38.

Oliver then took the lead on the bike course, extending his lead to three minutes going into the run leg. Michael Birchmore then began to make his move and stun the crowd, not only by taking the lead by the second lap, but by putting a further five minutes into the defending champion Oliver on his home soil. Oliver tried to respond, but Birchmore was simply on fire on the run leg clocking an impressive 1.19 split on a tough course.

The women’s race saw an incredible battle for first place between Jessica Parry-Williams and Emma Newsome, Jessica exited the swim with a time of 35.15, ahead of Emma who completed the swim minutes behind with a time of 38.04. Emma then took the lead on the bike, with an impressive time of 2.52.19, with Jessica’s bike split at 3.02.36. Jessica Parry-Williams then took the lead on the run and kept it to secure the first place podium finish, an impressive run split of 1.31.15, with Emma Newsome’s run time of 1.43.15.

The winners of the Ocean Lava Wales middle distance relay race were Team Ross Mcnally with a time of 5.06.14.

Matt Bailey from Leicester Triathlon Club won the under 18 race, with an impressive time of 5.37.55, seeing him take 52nd place overall.

Top three female athletes from Ocean Lava Wales triathlon: 1. Jessica Parry Williams (5.11.17); 2. Emma Newsome (5.15.57); 3. Nerys Jones (5.37.32).

Top three male athletes from Ocean Lava Wales triathlon: 1. Michael Birchmore (4.24.31); 2. Oliver Simon (4.29.20); 3. David Francis (4.40.46).