Archive: March 2019

Four of our junior triathletes and Simon, one of our coaches, competed in the second Portsmouth duathlon on Sunday 24 March. The distances were longer this time (7.5km – 24.5km – 5km) and with a stronger headwind for the bike section, these hardy triathletes were put through their paces in a field of 263adult triathletes. Simon Pilcher, taking a respectable 5th place himself, said “there was some good pacing on the course and results proved how hard they are all training”. Thomas Horton (14yrs) entering his first mainland duathlon showed his strength on both disciplines finishing in 39th place (1st in under 18); Gethin Hepworth the other male junior and youngest of all of them (13yrs) finishing 101 overall (2nd under 18). Millie Williams, (16yrs) finished 15th Lady and 1st under 18 and Lottie-Rose Van der Helstraete (14yrs) finished 26th lady and 2nd under 18.

Three juniors of our juniors, Gethin, Lottie-Rose and Millie, two coaches, our treasurer & Rob started 2019 the way they mean to go on. For the juniors, competing as the youngest by over six years in their first open road multi-discipline event was quite daunting. Within the under 18’s Gethin Hepworth was first male and Millie Williams 1st young lady, with Lottie-Rose close in 2nd place. They definitely showed the “oldies” their strength and determination even after having to get the 6am ferry! Their coach Simon knocked off five minutes from his previous time finishing in 4th place in an amazing time of 1.02.26, narrowly missing out on 3rd place by .03 of a second in a fabulous sprint finish and Julie Van der Helstraete, competing within a team with Rob Holbrook achieving 2nd overall team. John Hepworth, having the additional pressure of racing his son, put in an immense performance also coming within the top half of the finishers. An amazing result showing their hard training is paying off and showing the adults they are hot on their tail….

Seven members of the IOW Junior Triathlon Club were recently recently very lucky to be given the opportunity to go on a Young Activators Course funded by the IOW Sports Foundation. Their coach, Julie Van der Helstraete said “These youngsters are not only the sportsmen and women of tomorrow but also our next generation’s coaches”. The British Triathlon came over for a day and delivered this course to them – all fully fledged “young activators” now they can assist a qualified coach with coaching sessions and helping other juniors along their sporting paths. As always John Ward, from Fitness at Gurnard, gave the junior tri club his full backing and provided facilities for this course to take place, for which they are extremely grateful.