MALVERN, Tewkesbury and Worcester clubs dominated the leaderboard among 500 competitors at the ninth Upton Triathlon.

There were eye-catching displays by Malvern’s Vikki Sivertsen and Steve Butler, who won the women’s and men’s sprint distance respectively.

Tewkesbury’s Ruth Johnstone finished first in the standard distance closely followed by Worcester’s Rachel Ward.

More than 100 children took part in the kids’ fun run with Lucy Wells leading the one-kilometre field home.

Ten per cent of the field competed in their first triathlon, including DJ for the post-race party, Pete O’Brien, who had been inspired to take part as a 60th birthday challenge.

Meanwhile, 30 Malvern members competed with some being regulars and others first-timers.

Thirteen tackled the standard distance, which consisted of a 1,500-metre river swim, a 43-kilometre bike course through Earls Croome, Kerswell Green and Severn Stoke and a two-lap multi-terrain 10km run finishing at race headquarters in Fish Meadow.

Neill Williamson was first for Malvern to finish the standard triathlon in two hours 27 minutes 39 seconds, while Lisa Hurley managed third woman overall and first in her up to 39 year age category in 2.32.10.

Butler and Sivertsen were first male and female over the sprint distance involving a 750m river swim, 21.5km bike leg and 5km run.

Butler won in 1.13.37 with Sivertsen clocking 1.20.08 as they both topped the 40 year and over category.

Rob Hurley, in his first triathlon, was fifth man to finish, third male aged up to 39 and the fastest novice.

Clifford Berry crossed the line just six seconds after Rob Hurley in sixth position, picking up third in the men’s 40 and over category.

Malvern’s Claire Crozier finished third in the women’s aged up to 39 section in 1.28.52.

Malvern’s Chris Smallman and Caroline Heath were part of standard and sprint relay teams respectively.

Smallman swam in the winning standard team and Heath cycled in the sprint team as her trio finished first all-female team in their relay.

Stuart Whitehead stepped in at the last minute to help a relay team and clocked one of the fastest swims of the day in the standard distance.

He then joined a number of Malvern members who volunteered to marshal on the day.

Malvern used the event as their club championships as well due to the high turn-out.

The inaugural male and female winners of the club awards were Williamson and Lisa Hurley for the standard and Butler and Sivertsen for the sprint.

All four winners were presented with a shield by club member Roy Hart, of Malvern Motor Services, who sponsored the accolades.

Entries for the 10th Upton Triathlon open on January 1 next year at uptontriathlon.com and normally sell out within weeks.

This year, organisers donated £2,800 of entry fees to charity Severn Area Rescue Association.