Brothers Elliot and Oliver Swallow continued their return to form by taking the scalps of some of those who are presently ahead of them in the British Triathlon Youth and Junior Super Series at the Festival of Triathlon at Mallory Park in Leicestershire.

The Halstead brothers’ races consisted of a 400 metre swim, a 9.88 kilometre bike ride and a 2.5km run.

With Oliver having been at Loughborough training all week, he did not have far to travel to the event and it was evident in the opening swim that he was trying different styles and strokes that he had been taught during the week.

As a result, he was 21 seconds down on the leaders going into transition one and wasn’t in the two lead packs on the bike.

It meant he had catching up to do, but having concentrated on techniques in the swim rather than power, his legs were still strong and he was right up behind the leaders by the time they came into transition two.

Oliver remained with them to the finish line as he came home in a creditable seventh place.

Compared to his midfield finishes in events of a similarly high competitive standard at Blenheim, Llanelli and Hyde Park in the early part of the season, this was a very satisfying result.

Meanwhile, Elliot, having received rough treatment in the swim at his last two events, was determined not to suffer again in this field of 26 youth competitors where he was the youngest.

He got into the leading pack from the start, but paid for that early burst and lost several places in the last 100m. On the Bike discipline, before the first lap was completed it looked as though he would be lucky to achieve a top 20 finish, but the remaining laps saw him gain good places and by the time he came into transition two, he was in a good position for the run.

However, he began to fall back due to calf cramps. Elliot did eventually manage to run it off, though, and he gained back places in the final 500m to finish a well-earned 12th.