DAN helps team england to triathlon gold

Dan Dixon with his England teammates. Picture: World Triathlon

The opening day of the 2022 Commonwealth Games saw Dan Dixon join a small but illustrious group of Morpeth Harriers, including Mark Hudspith, Laura Weightman and club president Jim Alder MBE, who have represented their country at a major championships – the difference this time being of course that Dan was competing in the Men’s Sprint Triathlon.
 
Held in the hilly grounds of Sutton Park, a few miles North of Birmingham, a venue familiar to many who have competed in relay action there, there were huge numbers out on the course to support, and Team England saw immediate success with a thrilling win for Olympic Silver medallist Alex Yee in an overall time of 50 minutes 34 seconds.
 
Yee’s win was hard fought, and one Dan significantly helped contributed to. A fine swim by him saw him 4th out of the water and in contention with the lead group that included New Zealander Hayden Wilde, who led the competition for all the but the last kilometre of the run but incurred a 10 second time penalty to frustrate any chance of holding off Yee.
 
Dan meanwhile focussed his efforts, along with fellow Team England triathlete Sam Dickinson, on supporting Yee on the bike and limiting time losses to the leading group. Taking the lead several times at the front of the chasing group, his efforts meant Yee went into the T2 transition to the run still in contention.
 
Thereafter, Dan was able to focus on his own 5k run, which he completed in a time of 15 minutes 54 seconds, finishing overall just outside the top ten in 12th place in 52 minutes 2 seconds as second placed English triathlete, ahead of Dickinson in 19th.
 
Yee was later hugely grateful to both Dan and Sam for their efforts on the bike, saying:, ‘They were immense. Those guys worked super hard for me.’
 
Dan himself later commented: ‘The main thing is we came here for a medal as a team and we got it. That was absolutely the key goal. The aim was to bring Alex towards the front as much as possible. We did a cracking job in the end. It was great.’
 
Dan was unfortunate to miss out on selection for Sunday’s Mixed Team Relay, that saw a further Gold medal, with Dickinson given the nod.  But his day will surely come.