South West Biathlon Qualifier

12th October, 2003

Kelly College sent a team of swimmers to compete in the South West Biathlon(run/swim) last Sunday at Millfield in Somerset.  Although it was a blustery day, the sun shone and the Kelly College swimmers performed very well in the run, most of them beating their times from the previous week.  The swimming also produced some personal bests and Kelly College achieved several individual national qualifiers and 4 teams qualified.

The Youth E Boys team of Peter Meachin, Mark Brend and Oliver Lake were the first Kelly College team to qualify for the Nationals next month.  Oliver came 3^rd in the swim and 6^th in the run making him 3^rd overall. Mark came 2^nd in the swim and 8^th in the run, finishing 4^th overall.  Peter Meachin, came 11^th overall, with Frazer Bayliss, a year younger than the other boys finishing 12^th overall.

The second Kelly College team to qualify by placing second in the team event were the Youth D Boys with Gregg Shrosbree (1^st in swim and 2^nd run) winning the overall individual  championship.  Lawrence Oxborough, 7^th overall and Adam John 11^th overall were the three that made up the team.  Tristan Hext, competing in his first biathlon came in 24^th.

The final Kelly College boys team to qualify for the National Championships were Youth C Boys, Alexander Richards (2^nd run, =9^th swim) placed 2^nd overall, Matthew Henry (5^th run, 4^th swim), 5^th overall and Phillip Channon 14^th overall made up the three members who finished 2^nd in the team event.  Kelly College had a second team in this age group who placed third, just missing out on qualification.  The team of Will Cummings, Jonathan Sprague and Joshua Lake placed 20^th, 16^th and 7^th respectively.

Kyle Bayliss and Thomas Legeland were in the Youth B Boys section and finished just outside the qualifiers in 7^th and 9^th place.

Matthew Slator (Youth A Boys) a former National Biathlon Champion easily won his group, placing 1^st in the run and swim, with Matthew Hill (3^rd swim and 3^rd run) placing 6^th  overall, both boys qualifying for this years National Championships.

The Kelly College girls in Youth D Girls who qualified for the National Championships by placing second in the team event, consisted of Laura Sprague (6^th), Amy Bayliss (7^th) and Annie Tinsley (8^th).  In Youth B Girls, Rebecca Smith (1^st swim, 9^th run) qualified in 6^th position, with Sophie Stanford (10^th) and Meghan Spence (12^th) just outside qualification.

Richard Brady in the Senior Mens placed 2^nd and Bernie Shrosbree in the Masters placed 1^st, both qualifying to compete in Sheffield next month.

Missed out from last weeks Schools Biathlon results was Peter Meachin in the Boys Year 5 age group, who qualified for the Schools National Championships next year in March, by placing 6^th in the swim, 8^th in the run and 6^th overall.