Laurie Orchard placed 36th out of 104 finishers in the women’s 40-44 age group, while Jonathan Herring placed 37th out of 139 finishers in the 30-34 male age group of the ITU World Triathlon Grand Final in London on the weekend.Laurie Orchard has had an outstanding year by winning a bronze medal at the Island Games and then finishing sixth in her age group in the World Duathlon Championships in Ottawa recently. On the weekend, in a very competitive field over the Olympic course, Orchard had a time of 2:14.01 to finish almost 14 minutes behind the winner, Sandra Patt of Switzerland in 2:00.08, while Victoria Wilkinson of Britain was second in 2:02.34.In the same age group, Deanna Didyk placed 97th in 2:31.24.Herring also had a top 40 finish in his age group, finishing the race in 1:56.08. Francisco Serrano Plowells of Mexico won the age group in 1:44.48, almost four minutes ahead of the second place competitor, Charlie Graham-Brown of Britain. Two other local competitors finished in the top 100, with Tucker Murphy finishing 76th in 2:01.57 and Barry Murphy 87th in 2:04.03 while Ian Henderson placed 129th with a time of 2:17.01.Four others competed in the 35-39 age group with Adam Hopkin placing 21st (2:08.30), Timothy Goodyer 131st (2:09.44), Russell Burgess 147th (2:14.58) and Dennis Fagundo 149th (2:15.28).In the 40-44 males, Matthew Thompson placed 79th in 2:04.49 and Mark Booth 149th in 2:29.11.Also among the 23 local residents competing in London were Laurie Norman who was 44th in the 20-24 female age group in 2:22.18 and Belinda Castree who was 67th in he 35-39 age group in 2:20.48. Mark Wilcox and Geoff Smith were 73rd and 97th respectively in the 45 to 49 men’s age group with times of 2:05.14 and 2:08.33 respectively. Matthew Claridge was 87th in a 30-34 sprint event, recording a time of 1:18.02.Professional triathlete Flora Duffy was forced to pull out of the ITU World Triathlon after suffering a stress reaction in her left foot.Some of the Bermuda triathletes faced a challenge getting to London last week following the cancellation of the British Airways flight because of the approaching Tropical Storm Gabrielle.