Mike Trees of Darlington has been selected to represent Great Britain in the European championships after finishing second in the 2002 British Duathlon Championship held recently in Swindon.
Eleven years after winning the inaugural British Championship in Durham, Trees (pictured right) from the Hummersknott area of town, managed the feat despite being hospitalised recently after being knocked down by a motorist in Japan whilst training.
His main threats were former international athletes Martin Yelling, Spencer Duval and international triathlete Stuart Hayes.
In this race Mike, who has been National Japanese Duathlon Champion three times, entered the 5km run just ahead of Yelling, who on the day had the edge and Mike had to be content with second place.
Duathlon is the winter alternative to triathlon, using a format of run-bike-run, 10km-38km-5k and Great Britain's duathletes are amongst the best in the world.
The European championships will be held on May 25.
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