ROY Flanagan made a last minute decision to take up his place in the Great Britain Team at the World Duathlon Championships after a season interrupted through injury, but it was the right call as his trip to America proved well worthwhile.

Racing against 34 other athletes in the 50-54 age group, the 52-year old Rossendale Harrier was the 13th finisher, and all but one in front were younger than him.

Last year he won his first GB vest in the same competition in Italy, but the 2009 World Championship venue could hardly have been more different.

Held at Concord in North Carolina, the organisers used Lowe’s Motor Speedway, a track used for American stock car racing, as their base. Without time to acclimatise, Roy was apprehensive as temperatures the day before his race climbed to 90 degrees with 95 percent humidity, but heavy rain came on race day which proved to be a blessing.

He ran his first 10k in 38:07 then followed with a 40k bike ride in 1:02:38.

Roy is more than an accomplished cyclist with his best time being around 55 minutes, but most of the course was very twisty – and he also took a small detour.

The final 5k run took 20:18, and after adding his times in transition, he clocked 2:02:44.