Forres triathlete, Fraser Cartmell reached his target of a top ten finish in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Clearwater, Florida this weekend.
Twenty five year old Cartmell completed this first ever World Championships - 1.2miles swimming, 56 miles cycling and 13.1 miles of running - in an impressive seventh place.
I got what I hoped for out of the race, said Cartmell, who had only competed over this distance one previous occasion. I had a great swim which set me up perfectly for the start of the bike, which was hard; the 27mph average speed shouldn't be easy. I paced the run well enough to manage a good finish, allowing me to move up from 8th to 7th in the last mile.
Just two years old, the Ironman 70.3 Series is the sport's newest property. Its culmination, the World Championships in Clearwater for 1800 of the world's best athletes, included a Professional prize fund of $100,000.
Cartmell, who became a full time triathlete this year and is supported by the Central Scotland Institute of Sport, now returns to Stirling for a fortnight before heading to South Africa for more training and racing.
We are going to have eight weeks of training out there, leading into the South African 70.3 event on the 13th January, he added. I have never been to South Africa, but I know many athletes who have trained there, plus some South African athletes who tell me how superb it is.