Over 280 triathletes took part in the Age Groups race, which took place as part of the busy programme of the CITY TRIATHLON Karlovy Vary. The race was for points to the Czech Cup in short triathlon and also for Czech titles in the youth, junior and academic categories. Filip Tlamka and Edita Pozlerová flew the fastest through the beautiful course in the spa centre.
Already a few days before the race, the organizers had to close the registrations because all the places on the starting grid were sold out in advance for the first time in history. Over 280 competitors jumped into the water in the Rolava leisure areal in several starting waves.
Fantastic courses awaited all of them, which will also be used by the World Cup participants tomorrow. After a 700 metre swim in Rolava, they moved on to the spa centre for a 20km bike ride, where they rode the iconic climb up Castle Hill three times. The final 5km run then took them along the Goethe Trail to the beautifully restored Imperial Spa House.
The first starting wave belonged to women together with the junior and youth categories. The first to cross the finish line was junior Edita Pozlerová, who also had the fastest female time of the day – 1:10:07! “I was a little bit behind out of the water, but I’m glad I was able to finish on the bike, so we were in the lead group going about five or six,” she described the race. “But the hills surprised me! Last year I was still a pupil, so it was my first time on Zámecký vrch and I didn’t expect it to be so hard,” smiled the new national champion at the finish line, who decided her victory in the first of the two cross-country circuits. Kateřina Hadravová was the second to cross the finish line and thus secured the junior title.
Much attention was directed to Marcela Joglova, the marathon runner and Tokyo Olympics participant tried her first triathlon in years. And in the women’s race, she finished 4th.
Jakub Homola won the junior race and Matěj Procházka triumphed among the juniors. However, both competitors were surpassed by Filip Tlamka, who was the fastest man of the second starting wave – 1:00:28. “I saw that I kept the same distance on the bike, which I then managed to do in the run,” said Tlamka. “I’m glad that after the high mountain training camp in Livigno I confirmed that my preparation for the final race of the World Championships is going in the right direction.”
On Sunday, the CITY TRIATHLON Karlovy Vary programme will culminate with the World Cup race, which you can watch live on CT Sport and TriathlonLIVE.tv. The women start at 10 a.m., the men at 3 p.m.