A 30 strong British team of Biathletes embarked on the demanding journey to Central America and faced the 36 deg C heat and 60%+ humidity of Guatemala's  Pacific Coast.

Fifteen countries were represented including newcomers Japan. South Africa, Egypt and hosts Guatemala had strong teams and next years World Championship Hosts Georgia were also present.

GB's team was not up to their usual numbers due to a combination of high costs and safety fears. The cost of attending was indeed high but fears over safety were allayed by the LOC who maintained excellent safe transfers and very good safe accommodation.

Competition day arrived with clear skies and no sign of the seasonal thunderstorms which plague this area at this time of year. The exceptionally hot and humid condition, as was to be seen suited the locals, South Africans and Egyptians better than they did the British athletes.

First up for GB were the Youth E Girls with Poppy Clark and Olivia Heron who both managed well to finish in 4th and 6th respectively with times of 4 mins 52 secs and 4 mins 54 secs. Egypt taking gold and RSA taking silver and bronze.

The Youth D Boys provided GB with the team's fist medal courtesy of Jack Goodman who finished third behind two Egyptians in a time of 4mins 14 secs. Aurelio Calipa and Josh Dreelan finished 4th and 5th in 4:17 and 4:33 to ensure the team gold for GB.

The Youths D Girls Race saw another GB team win courtesy of Saoirse McClure-Fisher 4th (4:22), Sophie Mabbs 7th (4:34) and Rebecca Wren 8th (4:37) in a race dominated again by RSA and Egypt.

The Youths C Girls was won by Japan with Daisy Anderson again agonisingly close to the medals in 4th place in 5 mins 39 secs and with Alannah Mabbs 7th (5:51) and Jessica Sutton 12th (6:30) took another gold team win for the GB.

The Youth B Boys race was a much closer affair with Matthew Griffiths leading into the dubiously long swim but a slight error on the final leg of the swim meant a he had to settle for a very well deserved Silver medal behind an Egyptian in a time of 9 mins 24 secs. He was closely followed by Jonathan Chatten who collected bronze in a time of 9 mins 29. Bradley Sutton who was 4th (9:35) completed another gold winning team. Sam Matthews 8th 10:14), Chris Luff 10th (10:24), Michael Sallis 11th (10:25) Elliott Lavile 12th (10:27) and Charlie Goriup 14th (10:43) completed the team.

GB were represented by India Cooper and Olivia Lowe in the Youth B Girls race and they finished in 5th (11:17) and 7th (11:50) in a race dominated by the Russians.

Greece took their only gold medal in the Youth  A Boys race in which our sole representative was Alexander Allen who finished in 8th place in 12mins 31secs. Unfortunately for all the 1500 metres run courses the local organisers forgot to completely change the course from the previous 1000 metes resulting in some quick time despite the rather long swim.

The Junior and Senior races were run together and provided the GB team with more medals. Hannah Parkinson took bronze in the Junior race in a time of 13 mins 38 secs. Rachel Jones claimed silver in the senior race in a time of 13 mins 09 secs  with Kathy Wellam bronze in 14 mins 06secs.

James Greenwell continued his improvement in the Masters A race with a fine silver in 8 mins 54 secs, Steve Luff gained (9:49) a bronze in the Master B race and Peter Collett (12:10) a silver in the Masters D Races but pride of place and two gold medals went to Barbara Holmes (10:19) Master B and Mary Collett (12:36) Master C.

So the provisional final table reads:

The 2014 AGM will be taking place at 1500 on 11 October 2014 at the National Badminton Centre, Bradwell Road, Milton Keynes, MK8 9LA.  You can find the Calling Notice here.

Please e-mail eleanor.guest@pentathlongb.org if you would like to attend.

Do you know coaches that work with Modern Pentathletes, coaching them in any of the individual disciplines of fencing, swimming, riding, shooting or running?   We are aiming to put together a plan to develop, support and deploy coaches so that we can provide the best service possible to both them and the athletes that they train.  If so, send the link to the audit below to them so that we can gain their valuable insight.

The aim of the audit is to understand the demographics, current qualifications, delivery levels, training needs and aspirations of the coaching workforce that currently supports the athletes and members of Pentathlon GB.  In effect, we are carrying out an initial audit of everyone who is and has been involved in coaching the disciplines of Modern Pentathlon.

For information, the survey is not anonymous, but all completed surveys will be kept strictly confidential and any data generated publicly will be non-attributable to individual coaches.  Answers may be given to the Pentathlon GB Development Team to enable them to follow up on specific queries.  It takes around 5 – 8 minutes to complete and will be open until Friday 15 August.  As a thank you for completing it, one lucky coach will receive £100 towards their next coaching qualification (subject to approval).

The audit is at this link:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PGBCoachSurvey

In a very suny Setubal in Portugal, a team of 86 athletes showed the rest of Europe what a force the Brits are in Biathle. The Parque Urbano de Albarquel hosted the European Biathle Championships for the second consecutive year and the GBR team grabbed a total of 32 medals, 14 gold, 12 silver and 6 bronze.

The first final of the day, the Youth E girls set the benchmark for the remainder of the competition with  Eve Jones, Poppy Clark and Madelaine Cooper taking first, second and third respectively. Kieron Mutch and Alex Painter then went on to take gold and silver in the boys race.

The Youth D Races saw wins for Martine Scott and Luke van Oudtshoorn with Oliver Smart and Jack Goodman taking silver and bronze. There was also a 1 - 2 finish in the Youth C girls race courtesy of excellent perfomances from Eleanor Jones and Madelaine Deadman.

Two more wins in the Youth B races were earned by Caitlin Woskia and Bradley Sutton with Harrson Yarnold finishing a close second. The Youths A races were dominated by Italy and Portugal but not to be outdone, Matthew Crew finished in a well earned second place and in the girls race second and third went to India Mellor and Phyllida Britton.

Harry Lane ran a perfect race to take the win in the Junior mens category and Naomi Drakeford finished second in the Junior Ladies race. Rachel Jones also finished second in the Senior Ladies race.

The Masters Races are always a source of medals for Great Britain and this year it was no different with wins for Emma Fisher (A), Barbara Holmes and Steve Luff  (B) Mary Collett and John Hiil (C) and Peter Collett (D). James Greenwell and Mike Weed took silver and bronze in Masters A, Nicola Quinlan silver in the Masters B, Margaret Smith silver in Masters C and Kay Evans bronze in Masters A,

Another very successful foray into Europe for the British team who now travel to Salford for the National Championships and consider the possibilty of selection for the World Championships in Guatemala..

The  86 strong team of Biathletes pictured in the Parque Urbano de Albarquel, Setubal, before last minute preparations to face strong teams from Spain, Italy, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Russia, Germany, Turkey and Portugal for the2014 European Biathle Championships.

A 43 strong Biathle team traveled to the City of Erding to compete in the 4th Biathle World Tour of 2014. The beautiful setting of Kronthaler Weiher lake provided for the swim with the run on the surrounding parkland for the second time in three years.

The first Races, Youth F, provided the teams first successes with a win for Bea Stanton and a second place for Orlando Clark. The Youth E races gave the team more success with wins for Poppy Clark and Jake Fisher and a second place for James Hulme.

A clean sweep of medals for the team in the youth D boys courtesy of Ryan Symington, Connor Jelley and Fred Fisher. Elizabeth Tolley and Hannah Stanton took gold and silver in the Youth C Girls Race. Bradley Sutton showed a clean pair of heels to the opposition in the Youth B Boys race and India Cooper, Olivia Manson and Leanne Symington took all the medals in the Girls Race.

Matthew Cook won the Youth A Boys race with Ryan Flaherty third. Harry Lane and Adam Weightman took gold and silver and Hannah Parkinson was second  in the Junior races to contine the team's run of success. Victory on the Senior Ladies race went to Rachel Jones.

In the Masters Races there were wins for Emma Fisher (A), Mary Collett (C) and Peter Collett (D). James Greenwell (A) and Michael Covell (C) were second and Margaret Smith (C) was placed third.

The team won a total  of 25 medals, 12 gold, 8 silver and five bronze and excellent performance and congratulations to the whole team.

Results:

Youth F: 1st Bea Stanton 2:55.8, 2nd Orlando Clark 3:17.9

Youth E: 1st Jake Fisher 4:49.4, 2nd James Hulme 5:07.6, 1st Poppy Clark 4:53.9.

Youth D: 1st Ryan Symington 4:16.1, 2nd Conner Jelley 4:24.8, 3rd Jake Fisher 4:35.2. 5th Jessica Hudson 4:47.1, 8th Catherine Tolley 4:52.7, 9th Rachel Hatherall 5:01.8, 10th Elektra Covell 5:02.1.

Youth C: 1st Elizabeth Tolly 5:04.9, 3rd Hannah Stanton 5:18.2, 5th Portia Manson 5:20.1, 6th Jessica Sutton 5:23.2, 7th Connie Baker 5:25.1, 12th Lucy Anderson 5:34.6, 13th Poppy Boyden 5:40.5.

Youth B: 1st Bradley Sutton 8:55.1, 1st India Cooper 10:36.1, 2nd Olivia Manson 10:38.0, 3rd Leanne Symington 10:48.1, 5th Georgie Lane 11:04.4, 8th Olivia Lowe 11:20.2, 10th Daisy Liddle 12:03.2.

Youth A: 1st Matthew Cook 12:25.8, 3rd Ryan Flaherty 14:33.4. dnf Bryony Martel.

Juior: 1st Harry Lane 11:59.5, 2nd Adam Weightman 12:30.6. 2nd Hannah Parkinson 14:13.3

Senior: 1st Rachel Jones 13:45.1

Master A: 1st Emma Fisher 8:52.5, 2nd James Greenwell 8:16.3, 4th Mike Weed 9:30.3

Master B: 4th William Statemeir 10:13.7, 5th Mark Fisher 10:23.2. 10th Mick Flaherty 11:40.1.

Master C: 2nd Michael Covell 12:06.8, 1st Mary Collett 11:44.1, 3rd Margaret Smith 13:11.5.

Master D: 1st Peter Collett 11:38.3 

On 25 June the Head Office of Pentathlon GB will be moving.  Whilst we will remain on the University of Bath campus, our address will change to:

22/23 Eastwood

University of Bath

Bath

BA2 7AY

The office will be closed from 25 - 27 June to enable us to move and set up the new offices, you can still send e-mails to admin@pentathlongb.org and we will endeavour to answer queries as soon as possible.

The third round of the Biathle World Tour was held in the Styrian town of Graz in Austria. This inaugural event was staged in the wonderful Eggenberg sports complex which, amongst all the other sporting facilities, boasted both and indoor and outdoor 50 metres swimming pool.

The British Team consisted only of a small team of the older athletes and the event being held over the Austrian Bank holiday of Corpus Christi rather than a weekend, meant many could not have the necessary time off school or work.

Athletes from Hungary, Czech Republic, Portugal and Germany joined GB and the Austrian hosts in all age categories from Youths F through to Masters.

Great Britains involvement started with the Youths B races and both Elliot Laville and Elke Morgan took fine wins for GB. Bryony Martel and Hannah Parkinson repeated GB success by winning the Youths A and Junior races respectively.

In the final category, the seniors Rachel Jones and Nicola Rowley completed a 1 – 2 to bring the teams medal tally to 5 Golds and one silver.

GBR Team times

Elliot Laville           Youth B   9 minutes 41.7 seconds

Elke Morgan          Youth B  11 minutes 3.1 seconds

Bryony Martel        Youth A  14minutes 14.4 seconds

Hannah Parkinson  Junior    14 minutes 2.2 seconds

Rachel Jones         Senior   13 minutes 48.5 seconds

Nicola Rowley        Senior   14 minutes 56.2 seconds

A team of 33 Biathletes travelled to Marina di Pisa in Italy for the second round of the 2014 World Tour. Biathletes from Germany, Austria, Cyprus and Portugal as well as Great Britain and Italy raced for medals in 30 degrees of heat along the promenade of Piazza Sardegnia and the calm waters of the Tirrenian Sea.

The team didn’t have to wait long for its first success with Youth F Jonty Manners-Bell winning the first race of the day. The second race brought more success with Poppy Clark and Charlotte Taylor taking gold and silver in the Youths E Girls Race and Will Connors carried on the team’s success with a win in the boys race.

The Youth D Girls race provided a clean sweep for Britain with Estelle Depierre, Evie Green and Rachel Hatherall filling the top three places and Archie Williams won the Boys race. Another clean sweep of medals went the way of GBR in the Youth C Girls Race courtesy of Elisabeth Tolley, Isla Green and Emma Livingstone. The youth B race saw victories for Bradley Sutton and India Cooper with Olivia Lowe taking second place.

In a hard fought Race with what seemed to be a long 200 metres swim, Gregan Clarkson showed the way home to the rest of the senior men by winning in emphatic fashion.   Rachel Jones and Hannah Parkinson both took silver in the Senior and Junior Ladies Races.

The Masters races are always successful for the GBR team and James Greenwell (Master A) showed a clean pair of heals to the strong opposition with Mike Weed finishing second and Denise Silk won a silver in the ladies race. Mary Collett won the Masters C race from Margret Smith in second and there were wins for Lajos Fazekas (C), Peter Collett (D) and Suzanne Clarkson (B). Unfortunately John McCabe (B) sustained an Achilles problem during the race and failed to finish.

A team of 33 athletes gained a total of 25 medals, 14 gold, 9 silver and 2 bronze to once again take the overall team trophy ahead of home country Italy. Congratulations to the team for a job well done.

Results:

Youth F            Jonty Manners Bell     1st        3:12.7

Youth E            Poppy Clark                 1st        5:17.7

                        Charlotte Taylor          2nd        5:43.2

                        Will Connors               1st        5:24.8

Youth D           Estelle Depierre          1st        5:06.4

                        Evie Green                  2nd        5:06.5

                        Rachel Hatherall         3rd        5:13.0

                        Jessica Hudson            6th        5:24.8

                        Catherine Tolley         8th        5:29.9

                        Archie Williams          1st        5:02.9

                        Tom Connors               4th        5:22.0

Youth C            Elisabeth Tolley           1st        5:44.4

                        Isla Green                    2nd        5:47.7

                        Emma Livingstone      3rd        5:54.5

                        Jessica Sutton              6th        6:18.8

                        Guy Tucker                  4th        5:33.9

                        Niall Caley                   5th        5:43.4

                        Jack A Williams           6th        5:48.2

Youth B            India Cooper               1st        11:39.0

                        Olivia Lowe                 2nd        12:13.7

                        Bradley Sutton 1st        10:11.9

Junior              Hannah Parkinson       2nd        15:06.1

Senior              Rachel Jones               2nd        15:00.5

                        Gregan Clarkson         1st        12:56.6

Master A         James Greenwell        1st        9:05.4

                        Mike Weed                 2nd        10:12.8

                        Denise Silk                   2nd        11:27.3

Master B         Suzanne Clarkson        1st        16:06.7

Master C         Mary Collett                1st        12:18.0

                        Margaret Smith          2nd        13:31.5

                        Lajos Fazekas              1st        12:28.2

Master D         Pete Collett                 1st        11:15.3           

Pentathlon GB would like to offer you the chance to attend the ‘Grow Your Club’ workshops which we are running in conjunction with Sports Marketing Network.  The aim of the workshops is to enable your club to become more vibrant, visible and viable.

The first workshop will focus on the importance of creating an enterprising and welcoming culture – thus attracting more money, members and volunteers. It will also cover how you can develop the enterprise culture and skills required, how to get your vision right and also a clear vision of what your club is for. 

It will help your club become vibrant through the activities and events the club creates, visible through its communication with members, supporters, sponsors and the world at large thus creating a viable club.

Other topics covered include:

• How do you deliver great, sustainable community sport without compromising your sporting and community objectives?
• How do you provide really innovative and welcoming customer experiences which fit in with people’s lives?
• How do you meet the strategic objectives of external partners and funders, whether they are from within sport or from health, regeneration or community services?
• How do you communicate effectively by listening to people and speaking their language?
• How do you develop sustainable income streams and still grow the number of participants?
• How to ensure that your club is able to tap into various Sport England grant programmes
• Buzzing with all these ideas people attending will then learn how to attract and retain skilled and passionate volunteers who can help the club implement them.

You will be given many proven ideas on how to generate income and concrete advice on how to implement the most appropriate ones.

The second workshop will then go through lessons learnt, successes and failures since the first workshop. We will then help you to adapt your approach and help your club to ‘keep the flame burning’ with a revised action plan.

The workshops will be facilitated by Svend Elkjaer, the founder and Managing Director of the Sports Marketing Network (SMN).

SMN provides information on how to make your club or facility more viable, vibrant and visible, sharing best practice across all sports. It publishes newsletters, organises seminars and helps sports clubs and leisure centres with their commercial, communication and community activities.  

Over the last eight years more than 4,000 sports providers have benefitted from SMN's services attending our workshops and presentations, being mentored or receiving consultancy.

Here’s what some previous delegates at Svend’s Grow Your Club workshops said:

The first workshop will be run on 1830 – 2130 on Wednesday 11th June at Clackheaton Sports Club with the second on Tuesday 8th July (venue TBC). It's free to Pentathlon GB affiliated clubs and £10 for everyone else.

If you would like to book onto the workshops then please contact Pentathlon Development Officer – North, Rachael Hares rachael.hares@pentathlongb.org or 07590 444372.

We look forward to seeing you there!

Pentathlon GB is excited to be working with British Shooting and England Athletics to develop combined running and shooting opportunities.  This is a unique development introducing a new competition format:  Run & Shoot!!

Over the next few months several pilot sessions are taking place which will provide you with an opportunity to have a go and take on a new challenge.  Be an innovator and take part, the competitions are open to everyone, of all ages, abilities and fitness, there really is something for everyone.

The events will provide training, progression and competition in a fun and friendly environment and are a great way to diversify your training and try something new whilst improving your fitness. 

Information on where and when the pilots are taking place and how to book yourself a place are here:

28th May - Ellesmere College

1st June - Roefield Leisure Centre, Clitheroe

8th June - Tudor Grange Leisure Centre, Solihull

18th June - Bishop Burton College

Contact Rachel Hares for more information and to enter rachel.hares@pentathlongb.org, 07590444372.

21st June - Plymouth College

Contact Miranda Palmer for more information and to enter miranda.palmer@pentathlongb.org, 07855957924.

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