THE CANNONNATIONAL TRIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS <strong>2011</strong>On Saturday the 29 th ofOctober, I travelled up toSolihull, near Birmingham, forthe National Triathlon Final. Iqualified for this, on the 25 th ofSeptember, which I previouslywrote about. It was the qualifierfor the Nationals, and it was outof the South-East, in which Ihad come 2 nd.I train for Modern Pentathlon,which is: Fencing, Swimming, Horse Riding and CombinedEvent-Which is a Shoot and a run (but at my age these eventsare still separated.) For the Triathlon, I only had to do 3 of the 5events. <strong>The</strong>se were: Running, Swimming and Shooting.However, after reaching Solihull, we had to wait about an hourbefore we could go into the ‘Holiday Inn’ in which me and mydad would stay the night in. I had a bit of time to unpack, andthen it was time to go and have a Shoot Practice at the leisurecentre in which I would compete at.Page 2had lost my stamina. I was caught in the middle of the girlleading, and the pack behind. As I got more tired, the peoplebehind began to gain on me. I managed to hold them all of untilthe last 100m- where I had nothing left for that final sprint(Which in better form I would’ve been able to do.) I wasdisappointed by the result, as I knew if I was in better fitness, Iwould’ve done better. Because I was ranked in sixth after therun, if I had done my PB, I would have been in 2 nd place.Next was the Swim. I was feeling a bit down after the run, and Ireally needed to pull myself together! My Dad boosted back myconfidence and told me to basically go for it in the swim, and totry to get a PB. I tried to focus on the swim now, and forgetabout the run. I got changed in to my racing costume, and Icompletely changed my attitude into determination, instead ofdwelling over something I couldn’t change. I was in the last heatfor my age, and I was in a race with strong swimmers, my mainaim was to stay with them- and then to hopefully get a goodtime. As it was 50m (2 lengths) I just had to go flat out. My PBbefore the race from the qualifier was 33:71, and my time forthe race, ended up to be 33:79! It was just off my PB- but Iwasn’t disappointed, because after that time off training, Iexpected to be about a second slower, and I had a much morepositive attitude.We got to the Leisure Centre and started having some time topractice the shoot, to have an idea of what the setup etc wouldfeel like tomorrow - I also had to borrow an airgun from myshooting coach, as unlike most competitors for Pentathlon, I donot have my own gun as in itself, the gun is roughly around£2000! After I’d done a few targets, we headed back to thehotel.Kerrie Johnson was also competing the next day, so it was niceto have a friend there with me. We enjoyed the pool in the hotel,and went out for a meal with a few others from my club (NorthKent MPC) - which I and my dad rarely do back home! Later onwe also watched a film, which was a nice way to take my mindof the next day…It was Sunday 30 th of October, the day of the competition! Itwas unusually late starting, and meant I got a good amount ofrest. As I don’t really like to eat much before my competition, Imostly had fruit, with a bit of bread and croissants, as I didn’texactly like the idea of having a big breakfast before my run!After we had packed up, we headed for the Leisure Centre.It was the run first. I had quite a bit of time to warm up, whichwas good, as I like to feel prepared.Recently between this time, and thequalifier, I had not been in best form,as I had to have Antibiotics and wasreally not feeling my best in the period Iwas ill. I had luckily just recovered forthe competition, but wasn’t at my fittestpotential (as due to being ill, I had nothad as much training as I would’vedone.)Before my race, I was very nervous.This standard of competition really isquite nerve wracking! Because of amixture of nerves, and the hanging onof my cold, I was sick. I recoveredbefore my race, but I was still nervous.But eventually, it was time for my firstevent: the 1000m run- the officialscalled us over and we waited on thestart line. <strong>The</strong> race began, I was on the outside of the track, so Ihad to cut over, and I set in my pace behind a girl who wasleading the race. After about the first 200m she began to pullaway from the rest of us, and I went with her. It stayed this wayuntil the weeks of not training was having an effect on me, as IAfter the Swim, before my Shoot, I had time to look at theresults; thankfully I had maintained 6 th place. Although I hadn’timproved my position, I was happy with this result, because theswim is one of my weaker events.It was now time to register for gun control. This is when youhave to take your gun, in my case the gun you are using for thecompetition, to be checked to make sure it is fair and safe/legal.<strong>The</strong>n I went through to where I would shoot. <strong>The</strong> Shoot is oneof the events I enjoy most, and my dad told me mostimportantly to enjoy myself.We set ourselves up, and then we were allowed to ‘dry fire.’This is when our guns are on safe and not loaded, and it is justto warm-up. After we had a practice target on command- this isjust to get a practice before hand, and to check your sights areright, and to see if you’re aiming right. (It’s self beneficial.) Mypistol was fine, so I had time to prepare myself while someadjusted their sights. <strong>The</strong> girl next to me was having a lot ofproblems with her gun though - but I didn’t let it put me off.Eventually when we started, she kept on having problems, andlots of the officials were trying to sort out her gun. We were inthe middle of the shoot, and it was distracting people aroundme- but I remained focused, and I wasn’t letting it distract me.Eventually we were able to continue. An official commanded usthrough ten shots and we changed targets after five. None ofmy shots went out of the black centre-which was a good sign.After we had finished, I was pleased as it was the calmest I hadbeen in a competition. (This was partly due to me enjoying theshoot!)Due to things going wrong, it was quite adelay until we got the results. As we cameback inside about half an hour later, ourtargets had already been given back out,someone gave it to me and people from myclub were saying I had got 91points! It wasthe best result I had got from my shoot- intraining, and in competition! I wasabsolutely pleased with my score and now Ijust had to wait in anticipation for theresults…<strong>The</strong> top six people had got medals, and from the shoot, I knew Iwould’ve kept 6 th place and this was all I had wanted! But Iwaited for the results sheet. As it finally came up, lots of peoplewere crowding around trying to look; and as it came up I
THE CANNONPage 3couldn’t believe it- My Shoot had put me into 2 nd place from 6 th -I had gone up four places! And it had enabled my team fromNorth Kent MPC to get 1 st place asa team too!my age group:2 nd in Great Britain<strong>The</strong> Best Shoot in Great BritainAnd the best Modern Triathlon team!I had a smile stuck on my face aswe waited for the awards ceremony.As eventually I went up, they gaveme my 2 nd place, and I had got the‘Best Shoot’!<strong>The</strong> final result from the day, in theend was more than I expected! InIn the end it turned out to be a great day, and I was verypleasedwith the finalresult-and it was agreatexperience tohave.MEDWAY SECONDARY SCHOOL GAMESCROSS COUNTRY COMPETITIONThis took place on Thursday Dec 1 st at a very wet andmuddy course at Rochester Maths <strong>School</strong>.We were able to enter 2teams , the Year 7 girlsevent and the Junior Girlsevent for Yrs 8/9.In a field of 44 girls ouryear 7s did extremely wellwith Faye Conisbeeplaced 12 th , her sisterAnna placed 14 th , GeorgiaTrythall placed 15 th ,Year 7Katherine Verbern placed23 rd and special thanks to Grace King who kindly steppedin at the last minute tocomplete our team andwas placed 27 th .Darcey BarhamKENT CHAMPIONSHIPS BIATHLON REPORTOn Sunday 20 thNovember students fromYears 7,8 and 9 took partin the KENT BiathlonChampionships atMedway Park.A biathlon consists ofvarying running andswimming distancesaccording to ages.<strong>The</strong> competition includedevents from Year 5 through to 6th form and teachers. It wasalso divided into various prize giving categories as followsIndividual 1 st to 6 th for either best runor best swim,Best Team 1 st -3 rd places andBest Secondary school with thehighest average score37 year 7 girls took part and our year 7team consisted of Daisy Stewart who wasfinally placed 15 th , Charlotte Ford 17 thand Lydia Allum 22 nd and overall coming avery commendable 4 th place in the teamevent in front of Rochester <strong>Grammar</strong>!Well done Yr 7!In a field of 40 girls ourJunior Girls team didextremely well withmedals being won byJacinta Barhamsprinting in for 2 nd placeand Darcey Barham for3 rd Years 8 & 9place.Kerrie Johnson came 5 th Eleanor Harrington came 6 thand special thanks to Natasha Munday, who alsostepped in at the last minute to complete the team andcame a very creditable 10 th . Well done! With all theseexcellent individual results they came 1 st overall in theteam event and won a shield for the school.Congratulations to everyone for their amazing effort andgreat team spirit.Mrs Bird15 girls took part in the yr 8 section andspecial congratulations go to DarcyBarham as she was our only Year 8 in thecompetition and was 2 nd in both the runand swim events.12 girls took part in the Yr 9 section andour team consisted of Jacinta Barham who was placed 1 stoverall, Eleanor Harrington placed 6 th and Cara Gear placed 9 th .
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