On Monday a band of excited Prep. youngsters headed to Fleetwood on the Blackpool coastline to participate in the annual AJIS Biathlon competition at Rossall School. Despite rumours of having to swim in the sea, the event consisted of a 50m swim in the indoor pool, followed by an 800m run around the track. The combined total from the swim and the run would determine the overall placing for each competitor, giving the competition a genuine test of stamina, skill, speed and strength.

A minimum of 3 competitors was needed to be able to count in the team event and each had to complete both the swimming course and the run to have their scores count. With only two Prep VI girls able to run, a big thank you must go to Evie in Prep V who competed for Prep 6 in the event. Despite the difference in age this did not deter Evie who put in an excellent performance alongside Eva and Lily to ensure the team scored enough points to get onto the illustrious leader board. Eva swam very well in her heat, finishing in third place, whilst Evie ran home also in third place in her 800m heat.

In the boys’ Prep VI event, Archie finished in second place behind heat winner and team mate Daniel. Harvey and Dante found the going tough in the pool but battled on to finish the race in 6th respectively in their heats. Top performance in the pool went to Lyle, who despite a slow start, showed great strength to power home in first place in his heat.

In the Prep V events, the support the team gave to each other was terrific to see and once again there were some notable performances.  Hari swam to a creditable third place in his heat filled with older competitors, with Matteo producing a similarly impressive swim to match Hari and finish in third place in his heat. Oliver A produced a steady run and swim in his heat to round off the competition for the U10s.

Finally, Prep III girls concluded the day’s proceedings with their running and swimming heats. Anya, Freya and Florence gave their all in both the swim and run, but it was Jess who took the individual honours with a fine 3rd place in her 800m race.

Full credit must go to all our biathletes, as they had to take on the elite club swimmers and runners from some very big AJIS schools. It was a fabulous introduction to the world of the Ironman and Ironwomen of this kind of multi sport event and I am certain Bridgewater will be back next year to compete with their now customary enthusiasm and determination. Well done team!