Thanet Triathlon

The first ever Thanet Primary Schools Invitation Triathlon, organised and funded jointly by Thanet Roadrunners AC, the Thanet School sport Partnership and Deal Tri Club, was held at Upton Junior School on 12 July 2008. Six successful schools from the 2006-07 Thanet Primary Schools Cross-Country League – Upton, St Saviour’s, Birchington, Bromstone, St Nicholas-at-Wade and St Lawrence College – were each invited to send one boy and one girl to compete. Mr Spencer selected Ellen Whitehead (5BV) and Nicholas Russell (5AC) to represent us.

The race consisted of a 100m freestyle swim, followed immediately by a 2km bike ride, then a 1km run. Timing started at the beginning of the swim, and finished at the end of the run, so competitors had to do their best to make a quick transition between each segment too. The girls’ race was first, followed by the boys’, and the school with the fastest total time from the two races was the overall winner of the event.

In two gruelling and hard-fought races, Ellen and Nicholas both managed to win first place, with times of 14 minutes and 35 seconds for Ellen and just two seconds more for Nicholas. Ellen even managed to run much of the course again as she kept pace with Nicholas to cheer him on! With both individual gold medals in hand, St Lawrence College Junior School was the overall team trophy winner too.

It was a thrilling contest for competitors and onlookers alike. Mr Spencer was delighted with his team, saying, “They were great! Now we’re looking forward to next year’s competition.”