WORCESTER Triathlon Club held their first race of the season with the Peopleton Duathlon.

There were 124 entrants braving near-zero temperatures on an otherwise sunny, dry day for the popular season-opener in its 13th year.

Two events were on offer — the standard distance of a four-mile run, 18-mile bike and two-mile run or the sprint distance of two, nine and two miles respectively.

Most entrants signed up for the longer distance with Alex Doherty, of Goode2swim, taking the win in the men’s race with an overall time of one hour 15 minutes 38 seconds.

Doherty was closely followed by Ben Meir and Nick Drabble of Worcester.

In the women's standard distance race, Tewkesbury Tri Club's Claudia Wilesmith came home in 1.36.03 ahead of Melanie Clarke (Evesham Tri) and Hannah Osborne (Stratford Tri).

In the sprint distance race, the winners were Reece Ashfield, of Black Country Tri, and Ceri Shepherd, of Stratford Tri, in 49.02 and 60.29 respectively.

There were a wide range of competitors taking part with finishing times ranging from the podium places to 2.29 in the standard race and 1.41 in the sprint.

For the first time this year, a blind participant Lee Greatbatch completed the standard distance race and impressed to clock 1.49 along with his guide runner and tandem pilot Paul Barlow.

The club hosts two more races — Worcester Triathlon in May and Droitwich Triathlon in July.

Full details are available at worcestertriclub.co.uk and people are welcome to join their Facebook Group.