Manx triathlete Will Draper began his season at the weekend with an eighth-place finish in the Challenge Gran Canaria.

The 24 year old finished eighth in what he described as ‘a tough but fast middle distance course (1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21.1km run)’ against a strong professional field.

Draper, who is now based in Leeds, competed the swim in a fraction over 25 minutes, before finishing the cycle in two hours, nine minutes and 10 seconds.

His run time of one hour 13 minutes 12 seconds, which was the fourth fastest split of the race, gave him an overall time of 3:52.23.

The event was won by fellow Brit Iestyn Harrett, who stopped the clock at 3:44.54.

Draper will now be looking ahead to the rest of the season, revealing he has now found a way to manage the ankle injury that hampered him last year.