The 2015 London Junior Series was the most successful ever with record numbers of participants and an even higher standard of competition. With four triathlons, four aquathlons and two duathlons over the five months from April to August, it's been non-stop. Here's a summary of the action.
The table below shows the top finishers in the 2015 Series.
Tristart is the youngest category, open to anyone up to age 8 at the year-end. This year the boy’s winner was Tom Howells, matching the achievement of his big sister Cerys, who collected the girl's Tristar1 title.
"After watching my big sister race last year I was determined to do my best. I especially enjoyed winning at Crystal Palace with the finish on the track in the big stadium. I couldn't wait to show my school friends the trophy." He said.
The Tristar2 girls was the most closely contested category with four closely-matched athletes at the top of the rankings throughout the season: Ella Peters (Jetstream), Lottie Hull (Crystal Palace Triathletes), Jessica Mayer and Poppy Jensen (Comet Triathlon). It was only after the final race that saw Poppy emerged as the winner by a single point over Lottie, and Ella came third.
A very happy Poppy (aged 12) declared: “This is my first year in triathlons, duathlons and aquathlons and I have learnt so much. I am delighted with what I have achieved this year and this encourages me to train hard for next year. I have enjoyed every race I have done and look forward to the next season.”
The stand-out performer in the boy's Tristar1 category for the second year in a row was nine-year-old Christo Chilton (Crystal Palace Triathletes). “I’ve really enjoyed racing the London Tri Series over the last couple of seasons. It has got more challenging this year as new people have come into the sport and each race is different, just to keep us on our toes. Tri is such a fun, social and brilliant sport." He said.
Congratulations to Tom, Cerys, Christo and Poppy, and to all the other winners on a great season for London Junior triathlon.
This year 649 individuals competed in one or more of the events - 11% higher than the previous record of 583 (2014). This is great progress and shows the increasing number of children taking the opportunity to try out the sport.
The chart below shows how these participants were distributed across the categories in each year.
These are the athletes who completed their four scoring events (2 x triathlons, 1 x aquathlon, 1 x duathlon) and is indicative of the number of children committing to the sport.
In 2015 there was a 10% growth on the previous record (2014), and more than double the figure from just a few years ago. Great for the sport but it does make the completion for end of Series trophies ever more difficult each successive year!
For more information on the London Junior Series visit the homepage here
Download the full set of Junior Series results from here
Report written by Jim Desmond, London Region Junior Coordinator.
