On Sunday 17th March Ollie Payne and Tom Dubois had the privalage of competing at the Winter National Triathlon Championships at Stantonbury Leisure Centre in Milton Keynes, having both qualified at the Wylye Valley Tri a couple of weeks earlier. Ollie was competing as aJunior Boy and Tom as a Mini Boy.
An early start and a swift journey up M3 around the M25 and the M1 ensured that Ollie arrived by 9:45 am ready to shoot at 10:15 am. The temperature decreased as we headed North and we arrived at Milton Keynes with sleet and sub zero temperatures to welcome us!
We met up with Ed and Tom in the queue for the gun check it was great to see some familiar faces. Ollie and Mum headed off to the shooting hall where we met up with some more friendly faces the Buddens from the Hursley Pony Club. Tom and Ed headed for the swimming pool. Ollie scored a credible 880 in the shoot which put him in 5th place after this phase. We managed to watch Tom in the pool and he had a good strong swim hampered only slightly by his goggles which he flung at Ed at the end of his first length!
We didn't manage to catch up with Tom again except for briefly on the stairs as Tom was running when Ollie was swimming and shooting when Ollie was running.
In the swim Ollie managed 7 lengths 11 metres a fair performance in his weakest discipline but several boys managed in excess of 9 lengths and the winner swam 10 lengths 15 metres!
The final phase the run was a 10 minute muddy walk across Stantonbury campus in the driving sleet and rain! Mum was wrapped up in two coats and was delighted not to have to strip off for a 1500 metre run in what can only be described as a quagmire! Ollie put in a great performance in difficult conditions with a run time of 6 minutes and 9 seconds finishing with the 8th fastest run.
After a shower, change of clothes and some energy boosting kit kats and hot chocolate we waited for the results for the Junior Boys. The results for the Mini boys were up and we were so pleased to see that Tom had finished a credible 23rd in his class.By 3:30pm the results were posted and Ollie had finished in 14th place with a total score of 2751 points out of a class of 31 competitors. His position was well earned and with one proud Mummy and an exhausted Ollie we headed off to Devon so that Ollie could join his school on an outward bound week at Skern Lodge! No peace for the wicked!
Well done to Tom and Ollie who were up against the best in the Country they put in fantastic performances for the New Forest and we are so grateful to our amazing tetrathlon team trainers for all their wonderful input.
Muddy Ollie?!
With best wishes
Julie x