WGT Winter Series 2020 / 2021

WINTER SERIES 2020/2021

Cat B Women

Emily Marchant Swansea Vale Tri
Nerys Blue Carmarthen Triathlon Club
Rebecca Comins SWifters

 

2021 WGT RACING kicked off with a short, sharp, Crit-style race in LaGuardia. We saw 19 new riders taking part and some big, big power numbers! The current individual and team leaderboards are below:

Round 6 –  Results after 6 rounds

Individuals: A-category men are currently led by Matt Blue of Carmarthen tri club, with a strong chasing pack on his tail. Can they catch him? B-cats have seen two dominant displays in the series from Emily Marchant (SVT) and Stephen Connolly  (Strathclyde Uni). Podium spots are still up for grabs. Top of the women’s C-cat is super-close between Sarah Wills (White Rock) and Natalie Richards (Cardiff Tri). Markus Pieterse leads the men for another SVT top-step. It’s a Taff Ely affair at the top of women’s D-cat, between Helen Colley and Gail Osbourne, while Darren Gilbert (Trilloydi) leads the men.
Teams: The engraver has already gone to work with the virtual team trophy. Man City Carmarthen have bossed the top end of the racing with some impressively low points hauls. Congratulations CTC 🏆. The podium is still undecided though, with NEWT and SVT in a prime position, followed by Cardiff Tri and WhittleFit, with Cr@pTri leading the chase pack. Perth continue to lead the Scottish clubs.

 

 

 

 

Round 3 – Bigger Loop – 28th Nov – Leaderboards after 3 rounds

Bigger Loop, bigger course, bigger challenge. It was the longest fixture of the winter series so far, including the first ascent of the Epic KOM and it certainly split the field.

Emily Marchant (Swansea Vale) continued her winning spree at the top of the women’s field, with Nerys Blue (Carmarthen) and Beckie Comins (SWifters) taking the other podium steps. Meanwhile in the men’s field, Keith Tannetta (Cardiff Tri) secured top spot, ahead of Osian Williams (Carmarthen) and Robert Harrison (Monifieth).

There was close racing in all the other categories, but it was the team competition which really got a shake up:

Carmarthen and NEWT still look strong on the top steps of the podium, but it was a shuffling of the deck for the chasers – brought about by strong 3rd rounds from Swansea Vale Tri and WhittleFit.

Perth performed well on the Bigger Loop course to lead the Scottish teams, ahead of Ayrodynamic and Montrose. Still very early days, so it’s all to play for – keep fielding those 5 riders to qualify for team points over the festive break.

 

Round 2 – Douce France iTT – Nov 14th – Results after 2 rounds

After the frenzied starts and drafting action in round 1, the Winter Grand Tour served up a test of individual cycling ability, with a 35km rolling time trial. Pacing proved critical.

Great to see some early rivalries being formed on the virtual roads between Welsh Triathlon and Triathlon Scotland. For more info on fixtures, rules and entry, click here.

Individual category leaders after 2 rounds:

CAT A

  • Luke Sullivan – NEWT / Wales

CAT B

  • Emily Marchant – Swansea Vale Tri / Wales
  • Stephen Connolly – Strathclyde Triathlon Club / Scotland

CAT C

  • Lindsey Jones – Caerphilly Triers / Wales
  • Mike Bessell – White Rock Tri / Wales

CAT D

  • Paula Dawson – GOG Triathlon Club / Wales
  • Gareth Yeoman – NEWT / Wales

 

 

Round 1 – London 8 – Nov 7th – WINTER results after 1 round

The Winter Grand Tour kicked off on the virtual roads of London with 41km of Zwift racing in total. This incorporated 2 laps of the London 8 loop, including the infamous local climb. Super racing by everyone from both Welsh Triathlon and Triathlon Scotland.

As with most Zwift racing, the starts were fierce, there was drafting aplenty and the two ascents of Box Hill provided plenty of battles and splits in the field.  A special mention to those who were racing for the first time on Zwift.

Here are your early category leaders:

CAT A

  • Luke Sullivan – NEWT / Wales

CAT B

  • Emily Marchant – Swansea Vale Tri / Wales
  • Stephen Connolly – Strathclyde Triathlon Club / Scotland

CAT C

  • Sarah Wills – White Rock Tri / Wales
  • Markus Pieterse – Swansea Vale Tri / Wales

CAT D

  • Paula Dawson – GOG Triathlon Club / Wales
  • Tom Wills – White Rock Tri / Wales

 

 

 

23rd August: WGT Summer Series, FINAL PODIUM standings below:

TEAM STANDINGS

Full team standings (Excel)

WOMEN’S

  1. Celtic Tri
  2. GOG Triathlon Club
  3. Cardiff Triathletes

MEN’S

  1. NEWT
  2. White Rock Triathletes
  3. Cr@p Tri

COMBINED

  1. Cardiff Triathletes
  2. Cr@p Tri
  3. GOG Triathlon Club

INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS

WOMEN’S

Full women’s standings (Excel)

CAT A

  1. Beckie Comins – SWifters
  2. Pippa Cave-Ayland – Cardiff Tri

CAT B

  1. Rhian Roxburgh – GOG Tri
  2. Mared Dafydd – GOG Tri
  3. Cat Brown – Celtic Tri

CAT C

  1. Rosie Davies – Cardiff Tri
  2. Sara Morgan – Taff Ely Tri
  3. Catherine Colleypriest (Cr@p Tri) and Lindsey Jones (C-Triers)

CAT D

  1. Katja Empson – WhittleFit
  2. Rachel Gabb – Celtic Tri
  3. Hannah Burton – Cardiff Tri

 

MEN’S

Full men’s standings (Excel)

CAT A

  1. Rhys Jones – Trizone Fitness
  2. Matt Blue – Carmarthen Tri Club
  3. Dave Williams – Celtic Tri

CAT B

  1. Daniel Taylor – White Rock Tri
  2. Luke England – WhittleFit
  3. Mike Slack – Pembrokeshire Velo

CAT C

  1. Thomas Amery – NEWT
  2. Tim Scott – NEWT
  3. Rich Kelly – Cr@p Tri

CAT D

  1. David Manley – NEWT
  2. Ian Jenkins – White Rock Tri

 

10th August:  WGT Summer Series: Individual standings after 5 rounds:

With just one round remaining in the series, there are still 5 categories of the 8 to be decided, so the last race in Paris really will matter…..and it will also be flatter! Let’s see one final summer blast of racing on Zwift.

Congratulations to the following who have sealed their places at the top of their race categories:

B. Rhian Roxburgh – GOG

C. Rosie Davies – CDF TRI

D. Katja Empson – WHITTLEFIT

See full standings below. It’s nice and simple to identify your rivals are now – if they have a shaded grey square in the “Total” column it means they have, or can, still score the 4 results to qualify for the overall series. If you’ve already completed 4 or 5 you should not let your guard down though – a strong final round will seal your place and deny your rivals getting those all important low scores.

Womens Individual after Rd5 (Excel)

Mens Individual after Rd5 (Excel)

Team Standings after 5 rounds (Excel)

 

 

8th August – Welsh Triathlon Virtual National Champs : Well that was a hot one! Congratulations to all those who raced the WGT Summer Series Round 5. It was not only the first ever Welsh Triathlon Virtual National Champs, but it also felt like the hottest day of the year. The hill finish was particularly cruel…and unplanned. Well done to everyone just for surviving that race! For full Welsh Triathlon age groupings / titles – click here.

 

1st August:  WGT Summer Series: Individual standings after 4 rounds: (A reminder that it’s your best 4 scores from a maximum 6 to count. The nature of this scoring means you need to really push the last 2 rounds, regardless of how many results you have banked. The lead can change very quickly!).  Your current ‘hot seat riders’ are below, based on form and rounds completed:

Womens Individual after Rd4 (Excel)

Mens Individual after Rd4 (Excel)

Cat A : Beckie Comins, Grace Kinnell, Matt Blue, Wilf Goodfellow, Sion Kelly,

Cat B : Rhian Roxburgh, Luke Watson, Matt Colley

Cat C : Rosie Davies, Tim Scott

Cat D : Katja Empson, Jason Brown

 

August 1st: 3R Volcano ‘shortie’ race – 6 laps

With a mass start, flat course and power-ups enabled, there was never going to be any taking it easy with this one. Great racing and drafting practice….and the inevitable sprint finishes.

WGT shortie race Volcano (Excel)

 

July 25th: WGT Summer Series Round 4 : 3R Road to Sky (Alpe du Zwift)

What can we say about that one???!! Fantastic battles on an epic climb – Alpe du Zwift….not to mention some super high heart rates! Congratulations to everyone who completed round 4.

Strava King of the Hill: Sion Kelly  38:33

Strava Queen of the Hill: Rhian Roxburgh 46:55

Category winners:

Cat A : Sion Kelly , Beckie Comins

Cat B : Rhian Roxburgh , Luke England

Cat C : Rosie Davies , Sam Downes

Cat D : Katja Empson , Ian Jenkins

SS rd 4 Road To Sky provisional results (Excel)

 

WGT Summer Series: Individual and club standings after 3 rounds: (A reminder that it’s your best 4 scores from a maximum 6 to count. Make sure you take this into account when eyeing up your rivals). GOG triathlon club jump up to the top step of the podium in the women’s competition, with just 4 points between P1 and P3! In the men’s NEWT continue to lead the way with a strong week at the TT. Cardiff Tri remain on top in the combined competition, but it’s all still to play for as we’re only half way!

Women’s Individual (Excel)

Men’s Individual (Excel)

Club standings after 3 rounds (Excel)

 

July 18th: WGT ‘shortie’ : LaGuardia Loop – 10 laps – 29km

The final July shortie was a Crit-style race in NYC. Congratulations to those in racing action:

WGT LaGuardia July 18th (Excel)

 

July 11th: WGT Summer Series Round 3 : 3R 40km TT c/o Tempus Fugit, Watopia.

With drafting disabled, a mass start, and a flat course there was nowhere to hide this morning! Congratulations to all those who pedalled into the pain zone this morning. There was great racing across all Cats and even some sprint finishes thrown in. Special kudos to our overall winners: Grace Kinnell (Cardiff Uni Tri Club) and Matt Blue (Carmarthen Tri Club).  Nice to see our men’s Grand Tour winner, Wilf Goodfellow back on the bike and racing too. Round 3 40km TT results (Excel)

Category winners:

Cat A : Matt Blue (Carmarthen Tri Club) , Grace Kinnell (Cardiff Uni Tri Club)

Cat B : Daniel Taylor (White Rock Tri) , Beckie Comins (SWifters)

Cat C : Chris Adams (SWifters) , Rosie Davies (CardiffTri)

Cat D : Jason Brown (Cr@p Tri) , Katja Empson (WhittleFit)

 

July 4th: 3R Watopia Hilly Reverse ‘shortie’ RACE – it may have been a smaller WGT field due to L’Etape Du Tour, but it was still fast, fierce racing on the roads of Watopia, with a few lumps thrown in for good measure. Great racing by everyone. Your category winners on the day are below: full results here > WGT Watopia Hilly Reverse (Excel)

Cat A

Matt Blue – Carmarthen Tri Club

Cat B

Craig Brindley – NEWT

Claire Walters – Port Talbot Harriers

Cat C

Bleddyn Ewards – CardiffTri

Caryl Wills – Bynea CC

Cat D

Tom Wills – White Rock Tri

Rachel Gabb – Celtic Tri

 

July 3rd: Here are the updated team standings after 2 rounds of the Summer Series. It’s proving to be a very close competition with every point counting. Teams are really going to be rewarded for fielding consistently strong squads in all 6 rounds (remembering it’s the best 4 results scoring).  Cardiff Tri and NEWT currently edging ahead in the women’s and men’s respectively, with Cardiff Tri leading the combined too.

 

29th June: Category Leaders after 2 rounds

The WGT Summer Series is now in full swing and we’ve seen some great racing so far. We are 2 events into the competition and these are your current category leaders (based on average scores). It’s your best 4 results from a possible 6 to count, so there’s still time to get involved, just contact your tri club captain or send me an email. The July rounds see participants take on a classic 40km flat TT  and a brutal hill assault up the Alp. Happy racing!

Cat A

Rhys Jones – Trizone Fitness

Helen Jenkins

Cat B

Matt Colley – CardiffTri

Claire Walters – Port Talbot Harriers

Cat C

Tom Amery / Tim Scott  NEWT

Milly Kipling – CardiffTri

Cat D

Dan Molcher – WhittleFit

Katja Empson – WhittleFit