After the French Junior tests took place last month, it was the turn of Britain at the weekend. The assessments include an 800m time trial in the pool (25m) on Saturday at the University of Nottingham. The next day, the athletes took on a timed bike-run on the Sunday at Prestwold Hall Circuit. The bike section was draft-legal and started in a stagger with the fastest swimmer going first.
Youth and Senior assessments also took place and the highlights will be noted in a separate article.
Swims
Junior men
| Pos | Name | Time |
| 1 | Zak Clemens | 8:44.6 |
| 2 | Thomas Dixon | 8:46.1 |
| 3 | Rory Bryant | 8:47.2 |
| 4 | Joshua Cumberland | 8:53.9 |
| 5 | Brandon Pye | 8:55.0 |
| 6 | Deri Mccluskey | 8:55.3 |
| 7 | Josh Geary | 8:57.0 |
| 8 | Luke Holmes | 9:00.0 |
| 9 | Oliver Conway | 9:07.1 |
| 10 | Johnny James | 9:10.0 |
Zak Clemens was the fastest Junior man in the water and he carried a 1.5 second advantage into the bike. His time of 8:46.1 was not quite as fast as the top Junior time from the 2023 tests. Nevertheless, it certainly was an impressive showing to start the weekend.
Brandon Pye, who qualified for the World Junior Championships team last year, and Michael Conway, who made the European Junior Championships squad, were two notable names to make it into the top-10 in the water.
This year, there were seven British Junior men under the 9 minute mark. Luke Holmes came agonisingly close to making it eight men as he hit 9:00.0. Last year, six Junior men achieved a sub-9 minute swim.
With less than 10 seconds covering the top-4 men and less than 20 seconds cover the top-8 men, the swim set up a couple of potential lead packs for the Sunday bike-run.
Junior women
| Pos | Name | Time |
| 1 | Jessica Heeps | 9:34.0 |
| 2 | Helena Coy | 9:37.1 |
| 3 | Ella Chalmers | 9:45.0 |
| 4 | Maddie Rae | 9:45.6 |
| 5 | Eloisa Symonds | 9:49.4 |
| 6 | Betsy Griffiths | 9:53.0 |
| 7 | Meisha Trend-Evans | 9:55.0 |
| 8 | Antonia Jubb | 9:56.3 |
| 9 | Isabella Gar | 9:58.0 |
| 10 | Florence Crowley | 10:04.0 |
Jessica Heeps took the top time in the Junior women’s swim courtesy of her 9:34.0 effort. That also put her fourth overall once the Senior results had been factored in.
Compared with 2023, more women made it under the 10 minute barrier for the 800m. Last year, eight Junior women did so while this time round nine dipped under the threshold. Meanwhile, Antonia Jubb, who raced for Britain at the European Junior Championships last year, was the only woman to make the top-10 swims in both 2023 and 2024. Her isolation was in part caused by many of the top swimmers from last season graduating from the Junior ranks.
Bike-runs
Junior men
| Pos | Name | Time | Stagger | Start to T1 | T1 | Bike | T2 | Run |
| 1 | Brandon Pye | 00:44:10.4 | 00:00:10.4 | 00:00:05.1 | 00:00:18.7 | 00:27:32.5 | 00:00:20.9 | 15:42.6 |
| 2 | Deri Mccluskey | 00:44:37.7 | 00:00:09.6 | 00:00:06.1 | 00:00:18.0 | 00:27:32.0 | 00:00:21.6 | 16:10.2 |
| 3 | Rory Bryant | 00:44:57.7 | 00:00:00.7 | 00:00:06.7 | 00:00:17.5 | 00:27:41.5 | 00:00:22.7 | 16:28.3 |
| 4 | Luke Holmes | 00:45:12.7 | 00:00:12.9 | 00:00:07.2 | 00:00:17.8 | 00:27:26.7 | 00:00:22.2 | 16:45.6 |
| 5 | Oliver Conway | 00:45:17.0 | 00:00:21.3 | 00:00:05.7 | 00:00:18.3 | 00:28:08.9 | 00:00:20.4 | 16:02.1 |
| 6 | Zak Clemens | 00:45:24.2 | 00:00:00.0 | 00:00:04.6 | 00:00:17.1 | 00:27:45.8 | 00:00:22.0 | 16:54.5 |
| 7 | Daniel Van Aardt | 00:45:57.5 | 00:00:27.5 | 00:00:04.9 | 00:00:18.1 | 00:29:06.4 | 00:00:22.7 | 15:37.5 |
| 8 | Joshua Cumberland | 00:46:21.4 | 00:00:08.5 | 00:00:05.2 | 00:00:21.3 | 00:27:32.4 | 00:00:21.7 | 17:52.1 |
| 9 | Josh Horner | 00:46:45.7 | 00:00:25.0 | 00:00:05.1 | 00:00:17.9 | 00:28:07.4 | 00:00:38.1 | 17:12.0 |
| 10 | Charlie Neece | 00:46:52.9 | 00:00:53.6 | 00:00:05.8 | 00:00:17.7 | 00:28:35.4 | 00:00:22.0 | 17:12.0 |
The bike-run was staggered based on swim performances and, as the fastest swimmer, Zak Clemens started first. The “Stagger” in the above table refers to the time each athlete had to wait to start and the “Start to T1” section refers to the barefoot run into transition. Thereafter the terms in the table are fairly self-explanatory.
A lead pack of seven men came together on the bike. Of the top-9 swimmers, only Josh Geary and Oliver Conway missed out on the lead pack; Conway would make the second pack on the road which arrived in T2 down by some 45 seconds.
Once onto the run, Brandon Pye pulled away to claim the win. Having prevailed at the Youth test last year and then made the British World Junior Championships team, Pye had already proven himself as one to watch among the rising crop of British youngsters. Having logged the fifth fastest swim and fourth fastest bike, he ended the day with the third fastest run. Pye thus put together a commendable all-round display.
Daniel Van Aardt’s 15:37.5 was the best 5km while Harry Maxwell clocked 15:41.3 en route to 15th place. Meanwhile Luke Holmes’ 27:26.7 was the top bike split and he was the final man to make it into the front pack.
Deri Mcclusky managed to pull away from Rory Bryant on the run to seal 2nd place while Bryant took 3rd. A little further back, Conway had the fourth fastest run of the day and made up some of the time lost on the bike to make it into the top-5 behind Holmes.
Junior women
| Pos | Name | Time | Stagger | Start to T1 | T1 | Bike | Run | Run |
| 1 | Millie Breese | 00:52:34.4 | 00:00:57.5 | 00:00:05.9 | 00:00:15.3 | 00:31:59.6 | 00:00:22.0 | 18:53.9 |
| 2 | Helena Coy | 00:52:39.1 | 00:00:26.3 | 00:00:05.9 | 00:00:18.3 | 00:31:58.9 | 00:00:23.8 | 19:25.6 |
| 3 | Katie Mathison | 00:52:43.9 | 00:01:25.4 | 00:00:05.6 | 00:00:19.3 | 00:31:49.6 | 00:00:24.5 | 18:39.2 |
| 4 | Betsy Griffiths | 00:52:57.3 | 00:00:42.7 | 00:00:05.9 | 00:00:17.6 | 00:31:44.5 | 00:00:22.8 | 19:43.4 |
| 5 | Antonia Jubb | 00:53:00.3 | 00:00:43.5 | 00:00:08.3 | 00:00:19.8 | 00:32:31.8 | 00:00:25.9 | 18:50.9 |
| 6 | Jessica Heeps | 00:53:13.2 | 00:00:23.3 | 00:00:05.7 | 00:00:20.1 | 00:32:02.9 | 00:00:25.7 | 19:55.3 |
| 7 | Katie Youp | 00:53:33.8 | 00:01:26.7 | 00:00:05.5 | 00:00:17.5 | 00:31:50.0 | 00:00:22.2 | 19:31.6 |
| 8 | Annabel Wallond | 00:53:44.1 | 00:01:15.0 | 00:00:08.4 | 00:00:21.0 | 00:32:01.9 | 00:00:47.8 | 19:09.8 |
| 9 | Eloisa Symonds | 00:53:50.3 | 00:00:36.5 | 00:00:07.6 | 00:00:18.6 | 00:32:16.3 | 00:00:25.5 | 20:05.5 |
| 10 | Isabella Gar | 00:53:56.8 | 00:00:46.6 | 00:00:06.6 | 00:00:19.0 | 00:32:06.0 | 00:00:26.0 | 20:12.3 |
After starting with a deficit of 35 seconds on Heeps, Millie Breese came through to win the Junior women’s test.
At the front of the Junior race, a pack containing Heeps, Helena Coy and Betsy Griffiths came together. In the pack behind, Breese rode up to the group containing Eloisa Symonds and Isabella Gar. Unlike the Junior men’s test, the women’s saw Senior and Junior athletes race together. As a result, a few Senior athletes made it into the different packs on the road and were able to lend a hand.
By the end of the 20km bike, the two lead packs were separated by a little over 20 seconds and the advantage seemed to lie with the leaders. Griffiths would end the day with the top Junior women’s bike split in 31:44.5.
Breese, though, was one of three Junior women to run under 19 minutes and managed to overhaul Coy to win by 5 seconds. The top run split of the day actually went to Katie Mathison who had been behind the chase pack entering T2 and her split of 18:39.2 carried her to 3rd place and less than 4 seconds behind Coy.
Antonia Jubb took the second fastest run split in 18:50.9 which saw her run through to 5th place behind Griffiths.
View the full results here.
