THE circumstances may have been unusual this year, but the 2020 edition of the Minehead Sprint Triathlon has been hailed as “a pretty amazing day”.

The event set off from the Adventure Centre in Minehead on Sunday, with 134 participants taking on a 750m sea swim, 20km bike ride and 5km run.

Some adjustments were made in order to be compliant with coronavirus restrictions - so there was no mass start, and medals and T-shirts were sent out beforehand to prevent queues at the finish line.

The fastest finisher was Adam Fieldhouse, in a time of 01:05:28, followed by Matthew Cox (01:05:31) and Tim Gordon (01:06:06).

The fastest female finisher was Toni Senior (01:16:16), ahead of Emily Young (01:17:33) and Rebecca Comins (01:17:59).

Senior topped the women’s V40 category and Comins the V50, with Luke Reed (01:09:13) fastest in the men’s V40 section and Mark Goodridge (01:09:53) the V50.

The junior (age 14-20) category was headed up by Sophie Barker (01:25:59).

Dan Brice, director of organisers Channel Events, said: “It was amazing - I couldn’t be any happier with how it went, especially as I was so nervous in the lead-up to the event.

“The weather was good, and we’ve had amazing feedback from the athletes.

“Considering the circumstances it was a pretty amazing day.

“I think it was a really good day for everyone - athletes, local people, local businesses - and we had a full turnout of volunteers.

“People wanted to be outside and do something positive.”

This was the third year of the Minehead Sprint Triathlon, and the proposed date for next year’s event is September 26, 2021.

Before then, Channel Events is running a series of 5km and 10km night trail runs (the Dark Skies Series), starting with the Moonlit Meadow Run in Longrun Meadow, Taunton, on October 31, 2020.

You can visit the website here, for more details.