Junior Event

On a cold January morning 9 hardy 10-14 year olds registered, listened to the race brief and then took on the 150m swim / 1.5km run event.

With a number of those lining up taking on this type of event for the first time there were, quite understandably, some pre-race nerves. Once in the pool though and starting their 6 lengths those nerves soon disappeared and the concentration was on finishing the swim section.  Each Junior competitor was cheered out of the pool and into transition ahead of the 1.5km loop around the local leisure centre.

In a close finish Ryder Roiz de Sa took 1st place, just 20 seconds ahead of Austin Tavener Stephenson. In fact there was less than 3 minutes separating 1st and 9th place. It was great to see the Juniors competing and enjoying themselves with lots of smiles at the end and talk of when’s the next one.

Adult Event

At the race brief race organiser asked for a show of hands of those taking part in this type of event for the first time, almost everyone raised their hand. This is exactly what the GO TRI campaign is about and by asking this question competitors could see that they were not in this alone and that there was a fair chance that the nerves they were experiencing were also being felt by others.

Once the Juniors were finished it was the Adults turn. 12 lengths (300m) of the pool for the adults followed by a 3km run.

In an even closer finish than the Juniors Dan Roiz de Sa piped Ade Tavener to first place by just 8 seconds. GO TRI events are not about winning though and we really do celebrate finish lines over finish times, with our marshals and volunteers encouraging and supporting the last person to finish as much, if not more, than the first to finish.

We had some great post event feedback, including this email:

"Just thought I’d send a quick email to say thank you for Sunday morning! It was brilliant, first time I’d done anything like that and I loved it, thank you! Big thank you to everyone who marshalled too, all really supportive, it seems like you have a genuinely great team over there!"

If you've ever thought about getting into triathlon but didn't know where to start or were put of by the unknown I would really encourage you to look into GO TRI as the perfect introduction in to the sport.