Sam still learning

SAM HERRIDGE just ran out of legs in the weekend's Michelob Ultra London Triathlon. Guernsey's gold medallist in last month's Rhodes Island Games triathlon was in second place after the swim and the run stages. Herridge was out front with the world number two, Annabel Luxford, of Australia.

But unfortunately for the 30-year-old Sarnian, who is now based in Devon to concentrate on her sport, she could not keep it up on the final run section as she eventually came home in 11th place on the London Docklands course. The race highlights are to be shown on BBC One at the weekend.

'It was pretty good, not too bad,' she said.

'I came out first from the swim. I had a cracking swim and then I had a cracking transition and I found myself in the lead pair with Annabel Luxford.

'There was a group of seven about a minute behind us. I came out second of transition two but unfortunately I had nothing left in the legs for the run and they pulled me in.

'When I crossed the line I was disappointed but I was working with the world number two. My initial reaction was ?damn?, but I now know what I need to work on.

'Also it's going to be on Grandstand this weekend with me out front so I can't ask for more than that.'

Herridge's next race looks set to be in Turkey in October. Also in that month, she is looking at taking part in a world cup event on the same course in Rhodes Town where she won gold.

A hard winter of training follows and Herridge knows what she needs to concentrate on.

'It's back to the drawing board over the winter,' she said.

'I'm going to really hammer the running training. But I now know from London that I can hold the swim and the bike with the best of them.'

Herridge also recently competed in the third and final event of the Corus Elite Race Series in Hyde Park, London, to registered another top-10 finish in the competition. The final was contested for the first time over two heats.

The course was a 300m swim in the Serpentine followed by a 7km bike ride and lastly a 2.5km run. Herridge qualified in fourth place in her first heat to see her in the final race.

After a not-so-smooth first transition, she found herself in a second bike pack of seven athletes and did much of the work at the front to chase down the leaders. She eventually finished the run in 10th place for a combined time of 26.29min.

'I worked really hard on the bike as I really wanted to catch the lead group,' said Herridge.