Biathlons and Sand

Team TriPurbeck were out in force this weekend with many of the juniors racing in the Dorset Schools Biathlon on Saturday and the seniors in action at the Studland Stampede on Sunday.

Now a Biathlon is not like a normal multisport event in that it in additon to the running and swimming element it is heavily weighted towards the 3rd discipline – ‘generally waiting around for a long time’. It was difficult to separate the racers in that discipline though (or the spectators for that matter) so it was left down to the running and swimming to decide the results.

Technically, the juniors were all racing for their schools so if you get confused its porbably my fault. Jed put in the fastest yr6 run split of the day with George showing how much he has improved not far behind. Both posted pbs in the swim (11.3 hrs later) finishing 4th and 5th respectively and helping the Castle Court yr6 team to 2nd place. Josh put in a great swim leg to help the Castle Court yr5 boys team to first place and Annie had a goggles issue in the swim but still managed a 10th place finish, contributing to the yr5 Castle Court Girls Team taking 3rd place. Tom, Josh, Jack and Alex ran and swam well to finish 2nd in the yr8 team event for Sandford School, especiialy impressive given that one of the schools appeared to allow 17 yr olds into year 8. Stephen competed as an individual and finished 7th overall – just missing out on a medal. And finally, Jack,  Joe and Cosmo won the yr7 team event with Cosmo and Jack taking 2nd and 4th overall respectively. They were competing for Wareham Middle (for the benefit of Joe and Cosmo it’s just down the road from the sports centre). Great racing from the juniors and patience from the spectators – well done. 

And so to the stampede. Nice of the organisers to arrange for a sunny day. Not so nice to run it on a day when the tide was in! Looked really hard – so much so that I had to go for a lie down after watching the leaders cross the line. Of the TriPurbeck athletes, Justin came in first despite a groin strain, Neil 2nd and Charlie next. After that I’m not sure because I get an unhandled error when I try and open the results (the computer, not me). But in no particular order – great running from Gail, Jane, Peter and John. Well done all - looked a tough race. 

The New Forest Duathlon is on the 31st if anyone fancies a warm up for the main event on the 13th Nov!