An athletes view thanks Mary Hodgson

On the 29th March, 8 North West Academy athletes travelled to Rockingham to compete in the British Duathlon Championships. In terrible conditions, Charlie Coy was first up in the Youth Girls race, finishing 30th, learning a lot from her first super series race. In the Youth Boys, race Dan Slater finished in 38th after crashing twice in the windy conditions, but still going on to finish. The Junior Boys had 3 athletes from the North West, with Kyle Clegg finishing 36th, and Zack Holland 42nd, impressive positions in such bad weather. Jonathon Chatten was forced to retire after a crash on the bike. In the Para race Rich McLeod finished 2nd in the T3 category. The junior girls race was cancelled due to such poor conditions which made it too dangerous to ride, and was turned into a 10km road race. Mary Hodgson finished 2nd junior (6th senior) and qualified for the European Duathlon Championships in Madrid. Amber Towns finished a credible 25th. Thanks to Mike Myers, Danny Parr, Steve Hibbet and Andy Rawley for coaching us for the event. The next super series race is the British Aquathlon in Hyde Park, London, at the end of May.