Martha and Jake bag trophies at Sandwell Triathlon

SEVEN athletes from Stratford Tri Club Juniors took part in the Sandwell Junior Triathlon last Saturday, organised by Oldbury Swimming and Triathlon Club.

The course was a challenging one, starting with an open water swim followed by a bike course and finishing with a run around the lake at Swan Pool in a glorious setting a few hundred metres from West Bromwich Albion’s Hawthorns ground.

First up for the club was Abbie Wootton in the youth category (400m swim, 8km bike, 3km run) who finished in fourth place in a time of 42.17.

The next athlete to race for the club was Ellie Deaner who ran a superb race in the Tri Star 3 category (300m swim, 6km bike, 2.4km run) managing to finish in fifth place in a time of 33.33.

In the Tri Star 2 category (200m swim, 4km bike, 1.8km run) the club were represented by Molly Bullock and Charlotte Marshall.

Both girls put in spirited performances with Bullock finishing in seventh place in a time of 25.34 seconds and Marshall finishing in tenth place in a time of 27.34.

The Tri Star 1 athletes (150m swim, 2km bike, 1.2km run) were the next to race.

In the girls’ race, Juliette Marshall finished in 12th place in a time of 26.59.

Jake Deaner represented the club in the boys’ race and put in his best performance of the season to claim victory and the first trophy of the day for the club in 16.03, a strong swim was followed by a blistering bike leg where Deaner opened up a lead that he comfortably held.

Last to race for the club was Martha Bullock in the Tri Star Start Category (50m swim, 1km bike, 600m run).

Martha started off with a fantastic swim leg in her open water swim debut where she exited the water in first place, Martha found the technical bike course challenging and was pushed back into second place, a position that she held on to finish in second place in a time of 12.02 to claim the final trophy of the day for the club.