Harris-White triumph secures World Championships spot

HENLEY triathlete Natasha Harris-White has started her 2025 season with impressive wins in her first two races.

In the Valencia 70.3 Ironman race, Harris-White was fastest in her age group and fastest amateur woman overall in a time of four hours and 21 minutes, beating seven of the professional women and one of the professional men.

Harris-White’s win ensured she qualified for the Ironman 70.3 World Championships in Marbella later this year.

The course started with a 1.9km swim in the calm waters of the Valencia marina, where she exited the water in second place. She maintained this position on the hilly 90km bike course and then ran into the lead on the scenic 21km run course through Turia Gardens, finishing first in front of the spectacular Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias. Harris-White followed this with an emphatic win in the Challenger Championship in Samorin, Slovakia.

More than 2,000 competitors from 66 countries had qualified for this event and Harris-White won the 30-34 age group in a time of four hours and four minutes, beating the second placed competitor by more than 20 minutes.

On a freezing cold day, the swim course had been shortened to 750m. Harris-White finished this in third place but pushed hard on the 90km bike course to go into first place, achieving the fastest bike split among the amateur females on the course.

Harris-White maintained her first place with a confident half marathon run, claiming her top podium finish, and fastest amateur female on the course.

Harris-White’s time, with her still competing as an amateur, would have placed her in the top 10 professional females.