MALVERN triathlete Rhys Davey took silver at the British Youth Championships.

The 16-year-old had the race of his season, finishing second as he took on the best in the country in his age group at Blenheim Palace.

Blenheim hosted a number of races, ranging from a triathlon for first-timers to the elite races across the age groups.

The youth race consisted of a 400 metre swim in the lake, a cycle section of 13 kilometres and a run of 2.6km.

Davey led for most of the race, coming out of the lake swim first and going into the bike section with a 17-second lead over his nearest rival.

He continued to lead on the bike, pushing as hard as he could, while the chasing pack worked as a group.

Davey went into the run first but the strain of working alone on the bike was starting to show.

He was overtaken by the second-placed competitor so just tried to stay in contact with the new leader.

Coming into the final 400m, Davey was 12 seconds behind the leader and fighting hard to stay ahead of the chasing third-placed runner.

His determination paid off as he crossed the line second, 12 seconds behind the winner but a similar distance in front of third place.

Davey said: "I knew I had to come out of the swim in the leading group and try and get ahead on the bike as there were a couple of really great runners in the race.

"I did have a good transition from the swim, which helped, and I just got my head down and worked as hard as I could on the bike.

"I knew the better runners behind would be trying to chase me down.

"Into the run, I just tried to hang on and go as fast as I could. I knew staying in front on the run would be hard with this class of opposition so I am very pleased with the result."