Hetton Lyons Junior Triathlon

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Over 90 Aspiring young triathletes from Scotland, the North East, North West and Yorkshire competed in the open water triathlon at Hetton Lyons Country Park on Sunday 17th July.

This was the first time that many of the Tri star, Tri star 1, Tristar 2, Tristar 3 and Youth competitors had raced in open water conditions and it proved to be the perfect competitive preparation for the Northern triathletes, giving them a chance to experience the conditions they will be likely to face at the Inter Regional Championships (IRC's) at Parc Bryn Bach, Wales, in September. The event is also one of the North East selection events for their IRC team and was greatly supported thanks to the local triathlon clubs in the way of event marshals and equipment.
The event was also draft legal which meant that the youngsters could work together on the bike. This in turn made for an exciting days racing.

Hetton Lyons Country Park is already a popular site for British Cycling events and is a fantastic setting for triathlon with the open water swimming, a closed road tarmac path looping around the lake allowing for safe, draft legal cycling and a trail path ideal for the running course. Competitive settings such as this provide the aspiring triathletes with a realistic taste of what their  Olympic heroes such as Alistair Brownlee and Helen Jenkins compete in. With events like this, perhaps in the near future we will see the regions youngsters progress to the levels of Jenkins and Brownlee especially as Brownlee used to compete in events in the North East only a few years ago.

Many thanks to the event supporters North East Triathlon, Start Fitness, Triathlete’s World, Sun City Triathlon Club, Ryton Triathlon Club and One Life Racing.

Race distances
WAVE 1 8 – 10 yr olds: Tri start & Tri Star 1 – 100m open water swim / 2km bike / 600m run
WAVE 2 11 – 12 yr olds: Tri Star 2 – 200m swim / 4km bike / 1800m run
WAVE 3 13 – 14 yr olds: Tri Star 3 – 300m swim / 7km bike / 2400m run
WAVE 4: 15 + Youths – 400m swim / 10km bike / 3000m run

Where: Hetton Lyons Country Park, Houghton le Spring, DH5 9DT

WINNERS
WAVE 1: 8 -10 yr olds: Tri start & Tri Star 1
Male – Oliver Dollimore
Female – Rhianna Nitsch
Wave 2: 11 – 12 yr olds: Tri Star 2
 Male – Fergus Robinson
Female – Kate Waugh
WAVE 3: 13 – 14 yr olds
Male – Greg Chambers
Female – Lucy Farquhar
WAVE 4: 15 + Youths
Male – Charlie Harris-pratt
Female – Carly May Webster