Naomi in first National Triathle Championships

Naomi travelled to Sherborne for the National Triathle Championships on Saturday, which was the international selection for the World Championships in Weiden, Germany in August and the European Championships in Barcelona in September.

Although Naomi has done Triathlons and Duathlons before, she’s not done a Triathle. A Triathle is where they run to the shooting range and her age group shoot a laser pistol one handed from a distance of five metres, once they get five shots in the scoring circle, or have been there for 50 seconds (whichever comes first) they run to transition and complete a 50 metre swim. They go back into transition putting their trainers on and then run 400 metres, then go back round to do the same distances again, shoot – swim – and finishing with the run.

Naomi was taught to shoot just ten days prior to the competition by her mum, and as she is one of the youngest in the U13s she wasn’t expecting to do well. However, she had a great shoot which positioned her into 3rd place into the swim and run. She was slightly slower on the second shoot and lost two places, as she transitioned out of the second swim she managed to over balance putting her trainers on and fell over the top of her transition box. She picked herself up which put her into 9th going into the run, but she then gained one place and came 8th overall, which she was delighted with.

1st – 5th positions have qualified and 6th – 7th positions are reserved for the Worlds and European Championships. She only missed out on 7th position by 1 second and 5th position by four seconds. Fortunately, Naomi’s in the U13 age category again next year so is looking forward to trying to qualify again then.