Kent pair Dean Ratcliffe and Andri de Wit overcame adversity to battle to great placings in a triathlon over in Turkey.

Dean & his girlfriend Andri de Wit from MedwayTri triathlon club took part in the 2013 European standard distance Triathlon championships in Alanya, Turkey on Friday having both qualified at last years Europeans in Eilat, Israel where Dean won a bronze medal.

Dean has been battling with injuries all season and hasn’t been able to finish a race since April due to a calf injury whilst Andri has been plagued with various bugs which limited training so expectations were pretty low when they lined up at the start line.

On race morning, the sun was shining very bright early on promising a scorching day and the sea was a balmy 26 degrees which meant that no wetsuits were allowed in the swim.

The various waves of age groupers set off from 7am for the Olympic distance triathlon which consists of a 1500m swim, 40km bike ride and 10km run.

Dean was 3rd out of the water in his age group & headed out on the bike course gaining on the leaders as he powered his way round the 4 lap flat course completing the bike section in less than 57 minutes.

Various competitors drafted him on the bike course but the draft busters were alert and issued several penalties.

He headed out on the run course less than 10 seconds behind the leaders. Unfortunately his calf injuries prevented a fast run and he had to watch the competition overtake him one by one finishing in 7th place. A remarkable achievement considering his injuries.

Andri was poorly on race day but decided to race anyway, managing a personal best on the bike and finishing in 18th place.

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