Athletes put to test for Montgomery Triathlon
[gallery] Hardy athletes from across the country took to canal towpaths for a 35-mile test of endurance on both land and water.
The Montgomery Triathlon saw competitors first cycle for 13.5 miles from Newtown to Welshpool alongside the Montgomery Canal.
They then dived into canoes to paddle 11 miles to Llanymynech before hauling themselves back on to dry land for the final gruelling challenge, a 10.5-mile run to the finish line in Frankton Locks where the Montgomery and LLangollen canals meet.
The event ran all day on Saturday, with the bike rides starting on the Severn Way in Newtown half an hour earlier than planned, at 8.30am. Canoes cast off from Welshpool town wharf from 10.30am.
Entrants this year came from as far afield as Kent and Norfolk.
Freda Davies, of the Friends of the Montgomery Canal, said: "Due to the phenomenal number of entries the start at Severn Way, Newtown, had to be from 8.30am instead of 9am. More than 250 cyclists took part in the first section of the 35-mile event. It was not a race and entrants could opt to enter one, two or all three sections."
Miss Davies added: "We had entries from as far afield as Cornwall, Norfolk and Suffolk, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire, Kent and Lancashire. It has become one of the regular events on the canal network of England and Wales and last year won a Waterways Renaissance Award against stiff competition."
The Friends of the Montgomery Canal said £6,000 had been raised through people hiring the canoes from Canoe Central at Maesbury.Judith Richards, for the triathlon committee, said: "This was our third year we had run the triathlon and we were overwhelmed by the number of people who wanted to take part."
