It's been a busy few days for Chester Tri, with three events in eight days. More than twenty Chester Tri juniors competed at Wirral Junior Aquathlon on 7th February. Competitors in an aquathlon first swim in a pool and then head outside to run, with distances in junior events based on age and experience. Among the stars in Bebington was Jack Wright, who was a clear first in his first ever novice race, packing a 2-length swim and 1-lap run into 4min39. In the girls’ races, Kiera Henley came 4th in the Tristar 1 category, in which competitors swam 6 lengths and ran 3 laps. Despite being one of the youngest competitors in the category, Keira had an excellent swim and transition, but lost ground on the run to come fourth in the race. Charlotte King, competing in the same category, came in ahead of Keira in second place. This was thanks largely to a spectacular run, which was over half a minute faster than her nearest rival’s – and just a day after winning a schools’ cross-country event, too.

This weekend saw the juniors in action again, alongside the seniors at the Cheshire Cross-Country Championships. Here there were some excellent performances in the U13 boys race, with James Realff (8th), Dan Hamp (14th) and Thomas Wright (30th) coming in as 5th team in a packed field. There was also success in the senior in the senior men’s races. Duncan Harris continued his recent fine form with 13th place overall and bronze in the V40 category, missing out on silver by a mere seven seconds. Simon Greenwood, Chris Loney, Stephen Spall, Steve Eastwood and Simon McAllister made up the rest of the 10th-placed men’s team.

The very next day, a contingent of 21 runners travelled to Abergele for the Borders League race, over 5 miles. Gill Mead was third woman overall and first in V45 in 31:37, and now tops the women’s standings in that category. Keen to prove that his excellent run at the recent Four Villages Half Marathon wasn’t beginner’s luck, Chris Prior finished in third place overall in exactly 27 minutes, with Vince van Woerkom just 18 seconds behind him. Peter Brooke, Kenny Begley, Graham Jenkins, Nigel Shannon and Matthew Gibbs made up the rest of the winning men’s team, whose efforts now mean that Chester Tri now lead division two of the men’s league.