A GOLD FOR SIDCOT!
The Easter holidays saw the final of the British Schools Biathlon Championships held at the Olympic Park. The event was the culmination of earlier rounds that were held across the UK and brought together the very best swimmers and runners in the country.
The Biathlon is a two discipline event with athletes earning points for both their swim and running times, which are combined to form an overall score.
Immy went into the event ranked 5th in the under 15 age group, so knew that she would have to really raise her game in the finals if she were to stand a chance of medaling. She swam a personal best time of 2 minutes 14 seconds in the 200m swim, which was a fantastic start but she knew that she would need to stay with the faster runners to win. The 1600m run was soon underway and Immy tucked in behind the leader from the start, both girls ran superbly with the lead changing several times throughout the race and they soon pulled away from the chasing pack. Immy recorded a 15 second pb so knew that she should be in the top three. A nervous wait then ensued until the presentations when the announcer confirmed that gold had gone to “Sidcot School’s Immy Moroney!”
In the under 16 age group Jasmine Moroney went into the event ranked 15th, against some very strong competition, she too recorded a personal best time in the swim of 2 minutes 13 seconds and needed a strong run to ensure she improved her placing. On the track Jasmine attacked from the start and overtook several girls towards the end of the race with a fantastic finish. Once the points had been tallied it was confirmed that Jasmine had finished in 10th place, a brilliant improvement on an already superb rankings position.
A huge field of competitors had qualified in the under 12 age group, making the task for Sarah Carr really tough. She was inspired by swimming in the Aquatic Centre to achieve a strong 50m personal best time of 32 seconds. Cheered on by Jasmine and Immy, her run time of just over three minutes was impressive given that just a few minutes before her heat the wind had picked up so much that the girls were really struggling against the wind on the long fast straight. Her combined score makes her the 67th biathlete in the UK.
Phenomenal performances by all three of our Sidcot girls, well done!