The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Motion for win
you have no idea where you are position-wise because people are set off in different waves.
“It was only at the prizegiving I found out I was first in the veteran age group and fastest overall.
“This is my first full year doing triathlons.
“I did some four years ago and won a couple of novice races then decided to get back into it this year.
“I got second place in my age group in the Huntly triathlon a couple of weeks ago but this is the first time I’ve won a sprint race.”
Taylor admits that swimming is her weakest of the three disciplines and that was confirmed by her performance in the pool, after which she was close to three minutes behind Warden and almost four behind Moir.
She outpaced her rivals on the cycling and running stages and that, combined with her speed through the transitions, gave her a welldeserved victory.
She added: “The cycling stage was tough because it’s so hilly but it’s the same for everyone.
“Despite that I felt good and the same on the run when I got the fastest time I’ve done for the distance.”
The over-50 prize went to Miriam Rennet (Monifieth Tri Club) in 1:49:14, with the over-60 award going to Kate Peutherer in 2:27:50. The International Olympic Committee’s refusal to yesterday ban Russia from the Rio Games was widely condemned.
Despite calls for Russia to be thrown out of the games for running a statedirected doping programme, the IOC’s executive board opted against a blanket ban and asked each sport to vet proposed Russian competitors individually. Under-fire IOC president Thomas Bach announced the result of his board’s emergency meeting in a hastily-arranged teleconference.
It was swiftly criticised by United States Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart, who said the IOC had missed a chance to assert its leadership and left behind “a confusing mess”.
Canadian Dick Pound, the former president of the World Anti Doping Agency, said the IOC had a “huge opportunity to make a statement“which had been “squandered”.
The United Kingdom’s sports minister Tracey Crouch said “the scale of the evidence in the McLaren report arguably pointed to the need for stronger sanctions rather than leaving it to the international federations at this late stage”.
Athletics, the Olympics’ largest sport, has already vetted Russian competitors, with only one USbased Russian now likely to take part in Rio’s track and field programme.
But Tygart, who led the investigation that brought down disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, believes the IOC should be taking responsibility for clean sport.
“Disappointingly, in response to the most important moment for clean athletes and the integrity of the Olympic Games, the IOC has refused to take decisive leadership,” said Tygart.
“The decision regarding Russian participation and the confusing mess left in its wake is a significant blow to the rights of clean athletes.”
With Rio’s opening ceremony less than two weeks away, the IOC’s decision means each sport will have to make an “individual analysis” of every Russian competitor, which will then be subject to approval by an “independent arbitrator” from the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Tygart described this as a “glaring conflict of interest” and at odds with recent IOC statements that antidoping should be independent of sports.
The International Tennis Federation has already said the players nominated for Rio by the Russian Olympic Committee have been subject to a total of 205 blood and urine tests since 2014, and will be allowed to play.
Cycling’s world governing body may follow suit, with president Brian Cookson saying it would be “difficult for us to ban an entire team”.
“Each sport to vet competitors individually”