Dorchester trio shine in Biathlon semi-finals (From Dorset Echo)

Dorchester trio shine in Biathlon semi-finals

8:46am Wednesday 25th January 2012 in Youth Sport By Echo Reporter

THREE biathletes from Dorchester Middle School headed up to the Bath University training village to take part in the South West Schools Semi-Final Biathlon – one of four national events run by the Modern Pentathlon Association of Great Britain.

Alex Felton, Harry Buttle and Zoe Gowers qualified for places in windy conditions at the event having been ranked in the top 50 biathletes in their year group from thousands of school entries across the South West of England.

The event consisted of a track run and swim race in a 50-metre pool.

The Dorchester Middle pupils all train regularly with the West Dorset Warriors Swimming Club based at the Thomas Hardye Leisure Centre and are members of the Dorset Pentathletes.

First up was Felton, who in an extremely strong headwind produced a credible run followed by a personal best in his freestyle swimming race to finish 11th overall.

Seasoned biathlete Buttle, of Year Eight, also ran superbly in a tough age group.

He produced an excellent 100m swim, gaining another great personal best time, and took 33rd place in the final rankings.

Gowers meanwhile, had a brilliant day, achieving a personal best for both her run and swim.

With a sprint finish, Gowers seized first place in her 1,000m run and took the medal for fastest run of the Year Eight girls’ competition.

She finished sixth overall, securing a place at the prestigious National Schools Biathlon competition at Crystal Palace in March.