BRIAN Fogarty produced a superb performance at the Lanzarote Ironman.

The Blackburn Harriers member, who was competing for his own Fogarty Insurance Triathlon Team, overcame extremely tough conditions to finish 18th overall and third in the 30-34 age category.

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And Fogarty was left delighted with his performance ahead of competing in the UK Ironman Championships later this summer.

Fogarty said: “Going in to the race I have never been as confident of a good performance, I knew I had done the hard work over the cold wet winter months and I was ready to put it together on what is the toughest Ironman in the world.

“The conditions on the day meant it would be even tougher than usual but I felt this would work in my favour.

“My main aim was to qualify for the World Championships again in Kona and I believed if things went to plan I could get a top 20.

“So to come 18th, qualify and get a personal best marathon of three hours and 14 minutes in those conditions, I am over the moon.

“This definitely is my best result to date and I still know there is so much more to come. I just need to be patient, keep listening, learning and training hard, with the right people.

“I can now go into the UK Ironman Championships with no pressure and confidence of an even better performance.”

Four Blackburn Harriers, meanwhile, finished in the top 10 at the Catforth Canter 5k near Preston, earning the club the team prize.

Joe Monk, 17, led the Harriers charge as he came home in second place in a PB time of 16mins 15secs, Monk was followed by Tim Raynes in fourth in 16mins 29secs, Andy Buttery in fifth in 16mins 39secs and Chris Davies in sixth in 17mins 11secs.