Largest ever Cerist Junior Aquathlon Opens 2017 Welsh TriStar Series!
Sunday 16th April saw 137 children take part in the Cerist Junior Aquathlon, which was the opening race of the 2017 Welsh Triathlon Series. Despite some difficult weather conditions in the form of heavy showers, the event saw its largest ever field taking part and fantastic performances throughout the day.
The event catered for children aged 5-16, with a race for TriStart and Youth age groups as well as a fun event for children aged 5-7 alongside the TriStar series categories. These events saw many children taking part in their first ever multi-sport race, with all involved completing the course to proudly collect their finishers medals.
In the official age categories there was some close racing in the TriStar Start event. Seren Borland (Tristars Conwy) [4:55.2], Thea Patrick (West Coast Triathlon) [4:59.2], and Isabelle Edghill (Tristars Conwy) [5:06.6] came in 1st, 2nd and 3rd respectively, and for the boys it was Tristan Warrender (Cerist Juniors) [4:02.7], Liam Reading (Cerist Juniors) [4:04.1], and Ando Hannant (Ruthin Tristars) [4:36.0] who took the first three places.
Millie Hannant (Ruthin Tristars) [10:47.2] won the TriStar 1 girls race with the quickest swim and run, with a keen battle for second place eventually going to Josie Hurst (Denbighshire Tri Club) [11:09.4] over her clubmate Lily Roberts [11:11.4] who finished in third place. In the TriStar 1 boys race, Cerist Juniors completed a clean sweep, with only six seconds between the top three. Finlay Thapa [10:35.0] just edged Louis Roberts [10:37.8] and Daniel Warrender [10:41.5] in a closely fought race for the line.
The TriStar 2 girls race saw another battle between teammates, with Abigail Davies (AIM2TRI) [13:42.9] first, Eve Hickman (AIM2TRI) [14:22.6] second and Freya Thapa (Cerist Juniors) [14:59.4] in third. The honours also went to South Wales in the TriStar 2 boys race, with Finlay Catling (Celtic Tri) [13:10.2] coming in ahead of Luke Wyatt (AIM2TRI) [13:37.0], with Ruthin Tristars’ Oliver Jones [14:16.0] claiming third spot.
Carys Borland (Tristars Conwy) [17:58.2] finished strongly on the run to secure first place in TriStar 3 girls race, and she was followed home by Tia Froom (Ludlow Junior Tri Club) [18:08.2] and Eve Scott (Ruthin Tristars) [19:06.8]. Osian Perrin [16:12.8] produced a storming run to win the TriStar 3 boys race, with Alex Layzell (Triathlon Coaching Wales) [16:49.1] second and Liam Edwards (Pembrokeshire Tristars) [17.04.6] third.
The final age group to race were the Youths. For the girls, Kirsha Nicholson (Ruthin Tristars) [21:56.8] came in ahead of Eva Edwards (Pembrokeshire Tristars) [22:59.3] and Lauren Watts (Cerist Juniors) [23:30.3]. The boys race was won by Carwyn Owen (Welshpool Sharks) [20:03.9], with Alex Roberts (Tristars Conwy) [20:29.3] second and Tomos Jones (Taf Ely Tri Club) [23:05.9] third.
Full results can be found HERE
Series standings after race one can be found HERE
Please send all series standings queries to willkirk@welshtriathlon.org
Welsh Triathlon would like to thank Cerist Tri Club for a well organised race as well as thanking all the marshals and volunteers who made the event possible and allowed both first-time and experienced athletes to participate in a great race.
The next races in the series are the Llanelli Junior Duathlon and the Ruthin Junior Triathlon, which are both held on Saturday 13th May.
