Norfolk's professional duo Joe Skipper and Kimberley Morrison both enjoyed success at Ironman70.3 Staffordshire.

Skipper, who is originally from Lowestoft but now lives in Cringleford, finished fourth overall in a time of four hours, six minutes and 51 seconds.

Morrison was the second woman to finish, in 30th overall, in a time of 04:35.37 but saw Cambridge's Lucy Gossage take top spot on the podium in the closing stages.

The event consisted of a 1.2-mile swim in Chasewater reservoir, a 56-mile cycle through the countryside outside Lichfield, Burton-upon-Trent, and across Cannock Chase and a 13.1-mile run which started and finished at the historic Shugborough country estate.

Morrison, from Bale, near Fakenham, completed the swim in 27.09mins in third place but raced into first place with an excellent cycle of 2:29.08.

However, with around 10km of the run remaining Gossage took first place and Morrison had to settle for the second step on the podium after a run of 01:34.42 – and enjoyed her champagne celebrations.

Looking back on the wet race, Morrison said on her blog: 'Lucy Gossage came past and gave me some really positive encouragement and I was so grateful.

'I didn't give up at this point, I ambitiously had a go at staying with Lucy's pace.

'I was dropping further back however my pace remained fairly consistent.

'The third lap soon arrived and so did my lack of ability to see... emotions took over and I proudly stood on the podium with Lucy and Nikki (Bartlett).'

Morrison, who was born with two holes in her heart and underwent surgery as a child, is now heading to the Alps for some training ahead of Ironman70.3 Sweden in July and the Ironman70.3 European Championships in August.

Skipper completed the swim in 25.22mins before moving up to fifth with a cycle of 2:19.42 and eventually finishing fourth after a run of 01:17.30.

The 28-year-old is gearing up for a shot at breaking the British record at Challenge Roth in Germany next month, after moving up to third in the all-time British rankings when finishing second at Ironman New Zealand.

Highlights from Ironman70.3 Staffordshire will be shown on Channel Four at 7am on Saturday, June 25.