SOUTH EAST REGION BIATHLON
WHITGIFT SCHOOL
SUNDAY 16 MARCH
Dartford District Swimming Club were strongly represented in the regional heats of the Modern Pentathlon Biathlon event held at the Whitgift School, Croydon held this Sunday.
Fourteen swimmers competed for places in the National finals to be held in sunny Macclesfield in May. In parallel some also competed in Triathlon (+shooting) and Tetrathlon (+shooting and fencing).
Ages ranged from 8yrs (Grace Ladley) to 50yrs (anonymous) both male and female with a few of the competitors trying the event for the first time.
Dartford have a close tie with Pentathlon having National Champions stretching back over the years and this year sees Dartford hosting our very own Biathlon in April.
The weather, as usual for Croydon, was atrocious, with wind, rain and near freezing conditions for the afternoon run.
In the brand new, eight lane 25m pool in the morning Personal Bests were the order of the day, too many to record here but they were followed up by some surprisingly fast runs in the inclement conditions.
Credit must be given to the Big Six that qualified for the Nationals. Saffron Salih, Sally Nicholas, Georgina Ladley, Jenna Pembroke, Kevin Ladley and Vicki DeClerk. It must be said that Vicki's debut success was testimony to her hard work in the pool and on the track under the watchful eye of ‘personal trainer' Helen Grey.
The ‘gong' list was as follows, Sally and Georgina , (Team Silver), Saffron (Triathlon, Biathlon Gold, Best overall run), Jaime Binder (Gold Tetrathlon), Jenna, (Team Silver), Vicki (4 th ) Kevin (4 th ) all in their relevant age groups.
Congratulations goes to all the unsung heroes who competed with usual Dartford great spirit. They all returned home better athletes for the experience. An amazing addition is that many went on to swim in the Tudor Gala in the evening at Eltham which Dartford won convincingly!!
Well done Biathletes. See you in Macclesfield.
Kevin Ladley.