Norwich's Matt Ellis stormed to his first win on home soil at the weekend.

The annual Norwich Triathlon, now in its seventh year, was bathed in sunshine as hundreds of competitors descended on Whitlingham Country Park, near Trowse.

Athletes competed in either an Olympic distance event (1,500m swim, 38km bike, 11km run) or a shorter sprint distance (750m swim, 18km bike and 5.5km run).

In the men's Olympic race, Tri-Anglia member Ellis led from the start and finished in two hours, one minute and eight seconds – a full eight minutes ahead of second-placed Steve Norris of Born2Tri.

Rock Estate's Liam Gentry came third after his win at Fritton Triathlon three weeks earlier.

It was the first time Ellis has won the Norwich Triathlon – his last attempt in 2008 saw him face a two-minute penalty for taking his helmet off too early in the second transition.

The 33-year-old, who recently won a silver medal for his age group at the European Triathlon Championships, said: 'It was great to achieve my first Olympic distance win at my local event.

'I felt the race went better than expected. I was pleased to be first out and on to the bike. I knew I had to work hard on the bike section as Liam has been flying recently and I was half expecting to see him at some stage.

'The run at Norwich is challenging as it has a mix of surfaces, steps, hills, banks, twists and turns to upset your rhythm all the way round.'

The women's Olympic distance event saw Gears and Tears' Paula Robinson battle it out against West Suffolk Wheelers' Nicky Brinkman.

And the men's sprint distance saw host club Tri-Anglia take all three podium places, with Toby Morrell taking the win ahead of clubmates Simon Brierley and Tony Robinson.

The ladies sprint race again saw a host club win, with Becky Schofield producing a characteristic powerful run to snatch the lead from Claire Martin.

The men's relay win was taken by X-Ray Specs, the ladies by Team Erbene and the mixed by Team Splash, Flash and Dash.

Race director Mark Philo said: 'This has been yet another excellent event hosted by our ever growing club. This year has seen a dramatic increase in requests to do the sprint and relay events which shows that more and more people are taking up the sport or trying it out.

'I hope the event inspires them to step up to the Olympic distance next year.'