It was an exciting day for the South East region at the British Triathlon Grand Final – Inter-Regional Championships (IRC) 2021 held at Mallory Park on September 11th.

This is the major event of the year for our TriStar age group with 10 Triathlon England regions plus Scotland, Wales and Jersey fielding teams of 16 athletes aged 11-14 years. The 16 athletes and 3 reserves representing the South East, were selected at two events in June and July.

The heats and finals format of the event was new for 2021. The top athletes from each heat went forward into the A final and the rest of the field competed in the B final for each age category so that every athlete had the opportunity to race twice.  

First off were the TriStar 2 athletes, aged 11-12 years, completing an aquathlon with a 300m swim and a 1.2 km run. Oliver Darcy (Medway Tri Club) and Oliver Smith (Bodyworks) made it through to the A final. Darcy had a great final, finishing 7th overall, with Smith finishing 26th. In the B final, William Bowen (White Horse Tri Club) finished 7th and Oliver Goodman (Weald Tri Club) 22nd, all these results getting the South East off to a strong start in the overall rankings.

All of our TriStar 2 girls made it through to the A final which is a great achievement at this level. Top spot for South East was taken by Katherine Haslip (Bodyworks) finishing 4th. Another top 10 from Hannah Painter (Medway Tri Club) 10th was closely followed by Rosie Delgado-Howell (Bodyworks) 13th and Molly Burton (Bodyworks) 26th.

Then it was the turn of our TriStar 3 athletes, racing a fast and furious triathlon of 300m, 2.6km bike and 1.2km run. Blink and it was over. Three of our boys made it through to the A final against strong competition and it was Alex Dack (Deal Tri Club) who took the day and first place on the podium. In an exciting race, Dack came out of T2 12 secs behind the leader. 

With a heart stopping (for those watching) run around the lake, Dack reeled the leader in and overtook before striding away to take the win with 12 seconds to spare.  Great performances also by Jude Clayton (Worthing Otters) 12th, Finlay Goodman (Weald Tri Club) 24th and Luke Draper (Weald Tri Club) 8th in B final.

Not to be out done by their younger counterparts, all of the region’s TriStar 3 girls made the A final. 

Again, this saw an outstanding performance by a South East athlete, Gabriella Horne (Medway Tri Club). The fastest female bike split of the day saw Horne came out of T2 leading the field by 6 secs and, with a cool head, held on to that lead to finish with a brilliant win.
  
Horne’s win was accompanied by strong performances by the rest of the TriStar 3 girls, with Lauren Mitchell (Medway Tri Club) finishing 6th, Ella Perry (Bodyworks) finishing 17th and Alice Stawowska (Medway Tri Club) finishing 23rd.

This was a day of full-on racing, but also lots of fun and a brilliant team atmosphere created by the South East athletes. The region’s depth of talent in our TriStars was rewarded with second place in the national rankings and a silver medal to the athletes.  

Thanks also to our reserves James Polton (Bodyworks), Ella Baker (Bodyworks) and Kiera Oxley for being ready to step in if needed.

Well done to everyone involved in a fabulous day. If you would like more information on being part of the IRC team or the Junior Race Series please contact juniorseries@triathlonenglandsoutheast.org.