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Junior Series 2014

2014 NW JUNIOR SERIES FINAL RESULTS

The FINAL  scores for the 2014 Triathlon England North West Junior Triathlon Series (19 races), can be found by clicking  HERE.

If anyone has any questions or issues with the latest Series scores, please contact me at rolf.cooley@talktalk.net

Next year's Junior Series is currently being collated. A meeting is taking place on Sunday 19th October at the Palatine Leisure Centre where many North West race organisers will be discussing next years Junior races. The Junior Series for 2015 will appear in this web page some time after mid November 2014.

2014 Seasons Summary

This year saw the North West Junior Triathlon start a month later than usual with the Wirral Aquathlon scheduled in the first weekend in March and was successfully completed in Blackpool in September with 18 out of the 19 scheduled events being on different days. There was just on day, September 14th, that had two events occurring at the same time after the Carlisle Triathlon was moved back one week from its original date due to many of their marshals being busy racing themselves. Both events were at the extremes of the region and Carlisle [north] and Chester [south] were both full demonstrating the demand for Junior Triathlons so strong that the region readily filled two events on one day.

The tables below show some high level statistics of the Series this year compared to the three previous years. For the third year in a row the Series has seen a rise in entrants with many of the races posting higher entrant numbers than 2013. A third of the races this year filled up before the closing date. The increase in entrants is reflected in the 20.1% increase in Junior Series “appearances” in 2014 [33.2% in 2013] which was realised by a combination of more children competing and those that did compete, completing in more races. The only age group that saw a reduced of note was the T2 boys [a reduction of 23.9%]. This could have been partly due to an unusually high increase the previous of 54.6%, this year being a correction from that massive rise in 2013. This reduction was more than balanced out by a steep rise in the T1 [16.5%], T2 [50%] and in particular the T3 girls [68.3%] which saw a lot of new girls come into the sport and race this year. I believe that this rise in numbers has benefited from:

  • A number of new Junior Tri Clubs have been formed in 2014
  • The revamped format of the Junior Series web page done by Lucy Cowgill.
  • Visibility of the Junior Series events with flyers being distributed at all the early events in the year
  • Regular updates on Junior Series web page
  • Regular UTI Triathlon on mainstream television and the continued success of the GB team
  • North West Region training days for children from all clubs
  • The regions success at the 2013 IRC’s creating role models for the younger children
  T1 Boys T1 Girls T2 Boys T2 Girls T3 Boys T3 Girls Youth Boys Youth Girls Totals
Appearances 2014 310 377 282 363 222 239 121 95 2,009
Appearances 2013 266 264 371 242 190 142 101 96 1,672
Appearances 2012 215 164 240 225 125 131 97 58 1,255
Appearances 2011 242 209 234 195 123 128 86 37 1,254
                   
Did 8+ race 2014 9 19 12 17 12 13 7 4 93
Did 8+ races 2013 7 11 15 9 4 4 5 4 59
Did 8+ races 2012 5 2 5 9 3 6 3 2 35
Did 8+ races 2011 5 8 6 8 6 4 2 0 39

I was pleased that at the start of the season all 19 races were scheduled on different days. The clubs that came in with event dates towards the end of the scheduling process were very accommodating at finding weekend s that were clear of other Series races. 2014 welcomed back the Man Tri Junior Triathlon at the new venue of St Ambrose College. This was the first new event that went through a “Course review” before the race to ensure that the race was to be of the right standard for the Junior Series. The race went well and was well organised [and was full] and I can confirm this was a race positive addition to the Series. The other new events in the Series were both at Blackpool with BATS hosting a “triathlon day” which incorporated a Series Aquathlon and the Regionally organised Triathlon event to finish the season, incorporating the North West Club Championships. The only race that was lost from 2013 was the West Houghton Duathlon which didn’t meet the Series criteria for entry. This left the Series with 9 Aquathlons, 9 Triathlons and one Duathlon.  

In a massive region the geographical spread of events remains reasonable with 7 events occurring in, or north of, Lancaster (4 in Cumbria) which does give children in the far north of the region the opportunity to compete in organised events a little closer to home.

From a competitor point of view, only one triathlete managed to complete the season undefeated in 2014. Congratulations to Blythe Fourie [Racepace] whom competed in T3 girls and won all nine races she entered and took the T3 girls title, from Lauren Cooley [Tri Lakeland Juniors and T2 winner in 2013] with 6 wins to her name. In the T1 girls Felicity Barnes [BATS], (3rd in 2013) topped the table with 6 wins but was pushed all the way by Georgia Elizabeth Heath with 5 wins of her own. In the T1 boys Rhys Ashton [COLT] (2nd in 2013) with the most race wins in 2014, won 12 of his 13 races being beaten just once by Jack Smith who finished runner up. In T2 girls Lydia Shenton [COLT] took the title with 6 wins by just 4 points from Molly Wren [Tri Lakeland Juniors] with 6 wins of her own. In T2 boys we had the only triathlete that completed every race possible in the series with Louis Johnston [Mersey Tri] racing 18 times and collecting 10 wins. Even with this mammoth effort his victory was only by 0.79 points from Charlie Harding [Arragons and last year’s T1 winner] In the Youth boys Matthew Willis lost his 100% record in the last race of the season but his 7 wins prior to that secured the title ahead of Daniel Slater [Mersey Tri] by just 3.5 points. In the Youth girls Anna Hulme [Tri Team Wigan and T3 girls champion in 2013 secured the title with 7 wins ahead of Charlotte Cassleton [|Unattached] in second. In the Youth boys Jonathon Chatten secured the title with 7 wins from his 8 races. Finally a mention for three girls that clocked up 49 race appearances between them. In the T1 girls both Kirsty Maher [COLT] and Isla Newsham [Mersey Tri] both made 16 race appearances and in the T2 girls Harriet King made 17 race appearances. Well done to parents and family [taxi drivers] for supporting these girls in particular and all the other children that raced in the Series this year.

The mantle of having four family members competing in the Series was taken by the Slater family from Mersey Tri, with Daniel in Youth boys, Matthew in T2 Boys, Jacob in T1 boys and Abigail in the Tristar Start girls. Congratulations go to the Hannam family for the recording best family results in the region with three children finishing in the top 5 of three age groups. Larissa 3rd ,T2 girl, Shea, 3rd T3 boy, and Georgia who was 5th in the Youth girls with only 7 scoring races.

This year saw the second North West Regional Club Championship event. The event was scheduled as the last race of the Series to finish the year on a high and it did just that with 241 children entering. This event was the largest collaboration between clubs with 9 clubs involved with supplying volunteers to run the race. There was a fantastic turnout from many clubs and thanks to Stuart Carter for bringing 24 members, Jo Johnston for bringing 23 team members, Andrew Richardson for bringing 22 members and Kath Smith for also bringing 22 club members. At the other end of the spectrum were Chorley Athletic and Triathlon Club (5 members), Warrington Tri Club (3 members) Tri Guru Triathlon Club (4 members) and Rochdale Tri Club with just 2 members.

The 2014 girls title was taken by COLT ahead of second placed Tri Lakeland Juniors pushing last year’s winners Tri Team Wigan into third place. In the boys event Mersey Tri retained their title with COLT in second and Carlisle Tri Juniors in third.

A great day – brilliant end to the season.

The Region continued where it left off in 2013 with a number of skills sessions at Salt Ayre and Capernwray. This year there were 2 bike session at Salt Ayre in April and May. The Open water swim session was again at Capernwray in late July.

These sessions were targeted at children in the region aged 11 years or older, but that didn’t stop a few 10 year olds attending. All three sessions were well supported with just over 30 children attending the swim and 40 attending the bike sessions. In preparation for the IRCs a fourth and final session was scheduled at Capernwary on the Regions IRC team. All these sessions were led by Andy Rawley and all received very positive feedback from parents and children. 

Finally the meticulous planning [the entourage was 53 people strong at the pre-race hotel this year] involved for the Regions IRC team was repaid with a well-earned second place. The programme of events put in place by the Region from early in the year created the building blocks to allow our Junior Triathletes to perform at their maximum. With five of the twelve strong team we took this year being able to race in the same age group next year, things are looking positive for 2015.

NW Regional Club Championships 2014

The final Junior Triathlon race of the season will be at Blackpool on Sunday 21st September and will incorportae the North West Regional Club Championship. Individuals that are non club members can enter this race as well as children from outside the North West Region. Clubs from outside our Region can also attend, but will not be eligible for the Championship Title.

Follow the link below to enter this race

https://www.entrycentral.com/NW-Junior-Triathlon-Club-Champ

Click HERE for Pre race briefing pack for the Blackpool Triathlon on 21st September

Click HERE for the race wave list by "wave number" and then by "surname"

Click HERE to view the Final Individual Race results for the Blackpool Junior Triathlon on 21st September 2014

Click HERE to view the Final North West Junior Triathlon Club Championship scores

Congratulations go to COLT for lifting the Girls Championship and to Mersey Tri for retaining the Boys Championship for the second year running. Well done to all the clubs for getting such a high turn out to the event - a great way to end the season.

If you have any questions relating to this area, please contact:

Rolf Cooley, North West Children's Chair

Email: rolf.cooley@talktalk.net

Phone: 07922 030359

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