MedwayTri's Nicola Lilley wins silver medal at World Triathlon Age Group Championships in Abu Dhabi

MedwayTri athlete Nicola Lilley clinched a silver medal at the World Triathlon Age Group Championships.

The championship finals welcomed the world’s top triathletes to Abu Dhabi for elite, para and age-group races.

Lilley - who only took up the sport in 2018 - finished 11th female and second 40-44 female with an overall time of 2hrs14min40sec to claim her silver medal.

She was ninth out of the water in 26min20sec and her bike training in all weathers at the Cyclopark paid off as she made up ground, setting the fastest split for the day in her age group with 59.42.

Of the leading females only the overall winner Hayley Rigby could better that performance.

With a 43.23 run she was able to hold onto a second-place age-group finish.

Fellow MedwayTri athlete Cameron Kemp was also racing in the championship and he finished 18th in the 20-24 male category in 2:17.11.

Closer to home, MedwayTri's younger members were competing in the Kent Cross-Country League race at Foots Cray.

Ronan Lynch ran once again as the sole under-13 MedwayTri representative to record 14.15 in the 3,000m to finish 54th.

In the under-15s’ event Oliver Scott ran well to finish sixth out of 49 in 13.26 over 4,000m. Ollie Darcy was close behind in 11th in a time of 13.59 and Alfie Malone clocked 17.49.

In the under-15 girls’ category, Hannah Painter continued her winter improvements to finish 11th in 15.45 and Harrison Martin ran 23.10 for his 5k in the under-17 class.

Consistently excellent performances across all events brought a second-place finish for Kate Ypez in the TS1 girls’ category in the KidsTri UK Series. There was a third for Layla Martin and a fourth for Ava Mai Malone in the TS2 girls’ category.