ALAN ROWE was denied a hat-trick of world duathlon titles, but was happy that he had given his all in the attempt. The Guernseyman finished second in the 35-39 category at this year’s ITU event in Geel, Belgium, behind an impressive winner, David Benton.

‘I’m very pleased with the result, though it would have been nice to have won it a third time,’ said Rowe.

‘I raced to the maximum; I could not have given more.’

The event featured a four-lap 10km run, followed by a five-lap 40km bike and finished with a second two-lap 5km run. Thousands of spectators turned out, filling the Geel market square. There were more than 1,000 competitors from 32 countries.

Rowe knew he was up against a tough competitor.

In a race before the Geel event, Benton had finished second overall, including the elite racers, and had put four minutes on Rowe on the bike leg.

‘The writing was on the wall,’ said Rowe.

Even so, he produced a fine performance. His split times were: 33.26, 40sec. transition, 1-02.55, 49sec. transition and 15.05 for an overall time of 1-52.05. Benton came home in 1-51.27.

The weather was better on the Sunday for the age-group races than previously for the elite.

The day dawned warm and overcast, with a few showers that passed over. Allied to a completely flat course – the steepest hill, said Rowe, was an underpass in the city centre – times were always likely to be fast.

Benton opened a slight lead on the first run and went into transition one 30sec. up on the Sarnian. But Rowe put in a great bike leg.

‘Because the other age groups had set off before us, there was always a target up the road ahead. Then two Belgians came past and although it was a non-drafting race, it looked as though they had been working together. I could see from the marks on their legs that they were in my category.’

Under the rules, competitors on the bike legs were not allowed to draft – sit in another rider’s slipstream, which is less tiring for the rear one.

‘The first I knew of them was when a motorbike came up behind and someone blew a whistle, warning me that they were passing. That put me down to fourth so I put in a big effort to maintain my pace.

‘Just as they started going away, I caught David Benton so we had a bit of a battle and got back to the Belgians.

‘I led Benton into transition but he came past about a kilometre into the run. I caught one of the Belgians at 2km and the other at 3km, though I was very tight in my hamstrings.

‘Having seen how strong he was in the first run leg, I knew he’d win it. We were chatting afterwards and it turns out that he’s run a 3min.-48sec. 1,500m.’

Guernsey Triathlon Club teammate Carl Thomson recorded times of 38.27, 00.58, 1-05.44, 00.55 and 17.36 to finish 28th out of 67 competitors in the category in 2-03.40.

Rowe moves up an age category for next season, though he might not make the expensive trip to Australia for the 2005 world championships.

Next up are the GB Elite Championships in Llanelli on 11 July.

‘That will be my last chance to get into the elite squad for the European Championships,’ he said.

The event will again be 10km, 40km and 5km.

‘There is not much to chose between the elite squad members. It will be a drafting race, so bike road-racing tactics come into play.

‘It could be a very interesting race,’ said Rowe.