Young athletes prepare for challenge of British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships
Young athletes prepare for challenge of British Schools Modern Biathlon ChampionshipsSome 650 young people from around the country will contest the championship finals, where they will face the challenge of a swim and a run.
Some 4500 young athletes took part in the 12 regional qualifying events held at Aldershot, Barnet, Bath, Crawley, Hexham, Leeds, Liverpool, Medway, Millfield, Peterborough, Solihull and Swansea.
The British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships is supported by Sport England and run by Pentathlon GB, the national governing body for modern pentathlon.
Biathlons are one of the traditional ways that young people try out multi-sports events in an enjoyable, safe and competitive environment.
After mastering swimming and running, they can gradually add the other disciplines of the modern pentathlon - fencing, shooting and show jumping – before tackling a full modern pentathlon.
“The British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships are one of the traditional ways that we encourage young athletes to try multi-sports events,” said Peter Hart, Chief Executive of Pentathlon GB.
“Great Britain has an outstanding track record on the international stage in modern pentathlon and who knows, some future British Olympic pentathletes may compete at Crystal Palace on Sunday.”
Some 50 athletes of each gender will contest the year 5, year 6, year 7, year 8 and year 9 competitions on Sunday, with 40 competing in the year 10, year 11 and year 12/13 competitions. There are also team events for each year group and a competition for teachers.
Among the schools to secure the most qualifiers for the championships finals in Crystal Palace are Downsend School in Leatherhead, Surrey, with 22 qualifiers, Guildford High School with 21 and the City of London Freemen’s School with 16. There are also 15 competitors from Kelly College in Tavistock, Devon, whose alumni include Heather Fell, silver medallist at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
The events consist of a 50m swim and 500m run for years 5 to 7 and for teachers, and a 100m swim and 1000m run for years 8 to 12/13.
A full modern pentathlon now consists of fencing, swimming, show jumping and a combined run/shoot.
The British Schools Modern Biathlon Championships take place on Sunday 21 March, with the action running getting underway at about 9am and concluding at 2pm. Admission is free.
For further information, please contact Steve Ballinger in the Pentathlon GB press office at Matchtight Ltd on 07765 071683 or visit the website www.pentathlongb.org
Pentathlon GB Notes:
Modern Pentathlon is one of Britain’s most successful Olympic sports. The sport for women was introduced to the Olympics at Sydney 2000 and since then Britain’s women have won four Olympic medals – or 66 per cent of the medals available to them. Steph Cook won gold and Kate Allenby bronze at Sydney 2000, with Georgina Harland winning bronze at Athens in 2004 and Heather Fell winning Olympic silver at the Beijing 2008 Games.
Great Britain had the maximum complement of four pentathletes – Heather Fell, Katy Livingston, Sam Weale and Nick Woodbridge – competing at the Beijing Olympic Games. It was one of only 10 nations to have the full complement of four pentathletes in Beijing. Four British women achieved the qualifying standard for Beijing, but only two could compete, while Weale and Woodbridge became the first men to represent Great Britain in the modern pentathlon at an Olympic Games since Atlanta 96.
The sport of modern pentathlon has traditionally consisted of five disciplines - shooting, fencing, swimming, riding and running. However, at the end of 2008 the international federation, the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM), decided to replace two of the individual elements – the shooting and running – with a combined run/shoot.
The new combined event format sees athletes first compete in fencing – when they take-on each other athlete in the field to one hit with each bout taking a maximum of one minute; a 200m freestyle swim; show jumping – when athletes get to meet their horses just 20 minutes before going into the riding arena; then the combined run/shoot – where athletes run 60m, shoot at five targets in up to 70 seconds, run 1k, shoot at another five targets in 70 seconds, run 1k, shoot at a further five targets in 70 seconds and then finish off with a final 1k run. All of the disciplines take place in one day.
Each performance during the day is converted into pentathlon points and the winner is the athlete to amass the most points at the end of the day. The start of the run/shoot is staggered so the athlete leading the field after the earlier disciplines starts first. This means the first athlete to cross the finish line is the winner.
Pentathlon GB at Olympic and youth level is a beneficiary of the Lottery funded World Class Programmes (WCP). The Programmes focus on performance sport with the aim of achieving sporting excellence on the world stage. Further information can be found on the UK Sport website at www.uksport.gov.uk and Sport England’s website at www.sportengland.org <http://www.sportengland.org/>
Pentathlon GB also receives support from M&S as part of the FTSE-BOA Initiative.
Further information can be found on the Pentathlon GB website at www.pentathlongb.org
