Geoff Smith rolled back the years and defending champion Ashley Estwanik again dominated to take the 2017 XL Catlin Olympic Distance National Triathlon titles yesterday.

Smith, 51, used his excellent swim-run to give himself enough of a cushion over his nearest rivals going into the 10km run to hold off the fast-finishing Corey Brunton. Steve Smith lost time on the swim to Geoff, but matched him on the 40km bike with both of them posting sub-63 minute times. However, Steve dropped back on the run and was eventually passed by Brunton but held on for third place.

Geoff Smith, who finished in 2hr 14min 7sec, also had to contend with Estwanik, who not only took overall female honours but also finished second overall, less than a minute behind the winner and almost repeating last year’s first place overall finish. Estwanik exited the water in 26:05, just two seconds ahead of Maddie Durkin, who finished second in last weekend’s National Sprint Championships.

However, once on the bike Estwanik wasted no time in dropping her rival with a quick 1:06:31 bike split to Maddie’s 1:15:03. As expected, she then ran one of the fastest times of the day (40:54) to win in 2:14:56. Durkin was second, and eighth overall, in 2:28:50 with Becky Shepherd third in 2:32:47.