Hosted at Loughborough University across three days, the School Games National Finals featured representatives from 10 English regions, Scotland, Wales and Ireland competing for individual and team honours.
The 2018 School Games, which is supported by National Lottery funding from Sport England and Home Country Sports Councils and delivered by the Youth Sport Trust, debuted a triathlon and paratriathlon programme with individuals tested across a number of formats before teaming up for the Mixed Relay finale on Saturday 1 September.
Schedule Recap
- Day 1: Aquathlon – View Stream
- Day 2: Figure 8 bike skills test & Circuit race
- Day 3: Mixed Team Relay – View Stream
The individual races saw Daisy Davies, Jack Stanton-Stock, Megan Richter (PTS4) and Finley Jakes (PTS4) crowned champions after winning the circuit race, in which athlete set off on a staggered basis on cumulative times in the previous challenges.
“It’s kind of like a mini Olympics” - Megan Richter take the win in the Para-Aquathlon pic.twitter.com/MoyEAZBGzk
— British Triathlon (@BritTri) August 30, 2018
Daisy Davies commented on challenge of the staggered start “I think it work kind of well for me because I had people to chase, having started forth I managed to gain a place in transition and then caught up to the front half way through the bike.”
Jack Stanton-Stock said of his school game experience “It’s been amazing, the accommodation and everything. The setup has been amazing and with the YouTube live stream I’ve had loads of people texting me and saying that they’ve watched it so it’s all really cool. Very professional and I couldn’t really find a fault in it.”
Finley Jakes (PTS4) on paratriathlon’s inclusion “When I started out I was training with able bodies all the time really and it never really bothered me. Theirs not often that many paratriathlon competitions locally so having these national ones is a lot of help to get more people in to compete rather than just training at home.”
The mixed relay on Saturday was a real spectator highlight as the youth athletes had the opportunity to experience the new Olympic format. The team from East Midlands (Brayer, Snelson, Grant & Salcedo) won the mixed team triathlon whilst the paratriathlon team of Stanton-Stock, Richter, Costigan and guide Harling claimed gold in an adapted format similar to the Triathlon England Club Relays.
Across the few days School Games Alumni and Rio 2016 Olympic triathlete, Gordon Benson was on hand to offer advice to the developing athletes and said “It’s definitely representative and similar to an Olympic Games, obviously it’s within a country but it’s great to mix with all the other Home Nations, you’re here with your friends and have a great opportunity to meet other sports from your region and things like that. You’ve just got to enjoy it, try get the most out of yourself and learn as much as you can while you’re here.”
