Tom Varley, Jess Pike, Matt Dewey, Margaret Smith and Natalie Thomas

The last Biathle in the British Series took place in glorious sunshine at Poole and five of the six Andover Modern Triathlon Club's World Championship qualifiers used it as valuable practice before the World Championships, which take place in South Africa in November.

Matt Dewey, in only his second biathle, his first being the qualifiers, is benefiting from regular training at Weymouth with biathle coach Mick Flaherty. Matt, like last time went straight to the front for his first run in the Youth C class (age 13-14) and entered the choppy sea first. This time with his training behind him, his swim in the cold water looked far more comfortable, and only the British champion was able to overtake him.

After a slick transition, Matt once again showed the strength of his running, to earn a superb second place, 28 seconds behind the British champion at the qualifiers, and had reduced the gap to ten seconds at Poole.

Margaret Smith in the Masters Ladies 50+ class was not 100 per cent so once again she could not up the pace but did enough to take the bronze medal, and hopes to be fully fit for South Africa.

In the Youth B class (age 15-16) Jess Pike, with her superb running style, was in excellent form for both runs. Her swim is always very strong, and her superb performance throughout also earned her the bronze medal.

Also in the Youth B class, Tom Varley pushed himself to the limit and pounded along the promenade on both runs, which he backed up with a very strong swim. His tremendous effort earned him the silver medal, just three seconds behind the gold medal winner.

Natalie Thomas is another who has been doing regular training at Weymouth and she pushed hard all the way and deservedly won the silver medal in the Junior Ladies class.

In the final British Biathle Series standings Natalie was first in the Junior Ladies class and Margaret Smith second in the Masters 50+ class.

12:12am Thursday 9th October 2008

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