Calling all aspiring young athletes.

The North East committee are pleased to announe the selection policy for the 2017 Regional Development Squad.   

The squad is targeted at young athletes racing in the categories TriStar 2 (11 - 12 years old) or, TriStar 3 (13-14 years old) in 2017 who have aspirations of being selected for the Inter Regional Championships (IRCs), which are the national championship for this age group. Selection for the IRCs will be based on race results from open water, draft legal triathlon races and performance in squad sessions.

Squad session will take place monthly and through the winter will either be based at Dalton, or Gosforth on a Sunday morning, moving to Hetton Lyons Country Park near Sunderland on a Wednesday evenings in May.

We would expect the selected athletes to show commitment to the squad by regularly attending the monthly sessions, as well as working to develop their skills in club sessions.

We are looking for athletes who can demonstrate one or more of the following:

• Can achieve the benchmark swim / run times for their age group. Please see table HERE with the times.
• Have shown a commitment to racing (e.g. North East Grand Prix top 3)
• Excellence in one discipline.

The aim is to have between 6-10 boys and 6-10 girls in each age group, ideally split between those in the first and those in the second year of the category.  This means younger athletes won't be disadvantaged in their application.

We are also keen to help athletes who are moving in to multi-sport from a single sport background, whether or not they are currently attached to a local club.

In return for their commitment to the squad, athletes will receive coaching in all three disciplines from some of the region's most experienced coaches as well as an introduction to strength and conditioning work with specialists in the field.  As well as working on fundamentals, athletes will be introduced to draft-legal racing and develop the skills required to be competitive at the highest level.

For the 2017 season, selection for the squad will be by written application rather than an assessment day. 

To apply, or if you have any questions please send an email to Ian Simon (ian.simon@mail.com) by the end of December, with; 

• The athlete's name and DoB
• A current time for 200m swim and 1500m run (benchmark times shown in the above table).  Please state whether times are from a time-trial, race or club session.
• Example results from the last year (multi-sport or single sport)

Please highlight any outstanding achievements in your application.