DEAL Tri Club athlete Sarah Philpott pocketed the gold medal in the 20-24 age group category at the European Duathlon Championships in Germany.

The 23-year-old multi-sport athlete, who works as a trainee sports officer for Dover District Council, followed up her gold medal in the 20-24 category at the National Duathlon Championships in Swindon last month with another excellent performance in Zeitz.

Back home in Kingsdown, near Deal, Philpott said: “The event consisted of a 10km run, four laps on cobbled streets with a 1.25km continuous hill climb, then a demanding two-lap 40km hilly bike course, and finished off by another 5km run.

“The advice from the elite athletes who had raced the day before was to take the first run steady, as we had to climb the same hill four times and it was tough work. We then had to follow with a continuous 6km climb on the bike out of town which was really hard on the legs!

“The final 5km run is always strenuous and it's a case of setting your mind to complete the course.” Philpott’s next competition will be the National Triathlon Championships in Shropshire in two weeks’ time, when she will be hoping to qualify for the European Championships in Hungary in July.

Philpott, who beat a German competitor into second place, was one of two representatives from the Deal Tri club in the 70-strong British team. They returned home with a total of two golds, five silver and three bronze medals after the two days of competition.

The other Deal Tri member was Alf Pollard, seventh in the 60-64 age group.