Inverlochy take top spot at Lochaber area inter-schools triathlon championships
TWENTY Primary schools from the Lochaber area entered this year’s inter-school triathlon event which took place last Monday.
The competition, sponsored by No Fuss Events, is organised by High Life Highland staff at Lochaber Leisure Centre, the Active Schools team and primary PE teachers. Each of the schools sent a team of three participants – one swimmer, one cyclist and one runner – to start the race at the leisure centre. The race began with a swim in the pool with participants swimming 200m, or eight lengths.
It was Inverlochy swimmer Iona Dignan who was first in this section of the race, swimming the distance in 3.03. Behind Iona came Sean Troy from Banavie Primary in 3.08 and the third place swimmer was Elizabeth Morgan from Lundavra, who swam in 3.17.
Once all the swimmers had completed their section of the triathlon the event moved to the Braveheart car park where the bikers were ready to take on their four-kilometre ride. The riders were set off according to their team-mate’s swim time, with Daniel Parfitt from Inverlochy Primary heading out first. He held onto that lead and completed the route in 9.46. Not far behind him was Robbie Gray from Inverie school who took 9.57 to complete his cycle. In third place on this leg was Finn O’Rourke from Arisaig Primary in 10.02.
After a swift transition of the timing chip between teammates, the runners are tasked with running up the steep path out of Braveheart, towards the Saltire rock on Cow Hill before dropping back down to the leisure centre.
The pace on this leg was blisteringly fast, with the first four participants all running faster than the winning runner last year.
Sorley Swabey of Spean Bridge primary smashed the result from last year by over a minute – he finished in 9.37. In second place on the run it was Josh Seymour from Invergarry Primary, who also came in under the 10-minute mark at 9.50. Zacharius Alexander from Ardgour Primary rounded out the top three runners, completing the course in 10.37.
At the end of the race the overall results saw Inverlochy come out on top with a total time of 23.55. Lundavra finished second, completing the course in 25.12 and rounding off the podium in a time of 26.32 was Banavie Primary.