136 young triathletes took to the pool at Roade School Sports College, Northampton, for the first Mark Tanton Memorial Children’s Triathlon on Sunday 27 March.
Although many of the youngsters, aged 8 to 16 were experienced club athletes, the majority were novices keen to raise money for MeningitisUK in memory of their friend who died of the disease last September.
The event started with a pool swim, then out onto the sports field for enclosed multilap cycling and running. Each age group completed different lengths/laps according to their particular age category, but each category set off at the same time to allow exciting races to take place.
The Youth Boys race was won convincingly by Jake Butler who finished over 3 minutes ahead of fellow Northants Tri Club member, Tom Flavin, with a time of 39:35, and with Harry Monk coming 3rd for Team Cherwell. In the Youth Girls race Zoey Garlick took first place ahead of Rosie Mockett in 2nd, and Isabella Guglielmli in 3rd. The TriStar 2 boys race was a close run affair with Ewan Roberts crossing the line first with Peter Cooke just 7 seconds behind.
Despite the early start with clocks going forward that morning, the conditions were perfect for competing, and we anticipate having raised over £2000 from the event. The event was enjoyed by competitors, staff and spectators. Some comments included:
“Thoroughly enjoyed being a Marshall on Sunday. It was lovely to see so many children with huge smiles on their faces whilst they were competing.”
“A wonderful sight to see all those young people enjoying their day, whilst raising money for such a worthy cause”
“My daughter Cameren had a fantastic first triathlon, she really enjoyed it, thanks for the great day and hope you raise lots of money”
More details of this and other events, visit www.onyourmarksevents.org.
