PRESS RELEASE ~ PRESS RELEASE ~ PRESS RELEASE 29th July 2010 PENTATHLON CLUB SHOOTS TO THE TOP A North East Modern Pentathlon club has become the first in the country to achieve the prestigious Clubmark accreditation. Pentathlon GB North, which operates across County Durham, was awarded Clubmark in July in recognition of its commitment to developing a high quality, safe and welcoming environment for its young participants. Modern Pentathlon includes five disciplines: pistol shooting, fencing, swimming, horse riding and running. The club runs each of its activities at different locations across County Durham enabling youngsters from all over the county to have the opportunity to try at least one of the five events. The club was supported through its accreditation by County Durham Sport and accredited by a North East Clubmark Panel consisting of the four North East County Sports Partnerships (County Durham Sport, Northumberland Sport, Tees Valley Sport and Tyne & Wear Sport). Linda Richardson, Northern Region Chairperson, says: “We at Pentathlon GB North would like to thank everyone involved in the club, in particular the parents and volunteers who give up their time willingly to help out at our competitions; and the coaches who come from a range of other established sports clubs, such as Durham Harriers, Laszlo’s Fencing, Sedgefield 75 Swimming Club and Field House Equestrian Centre. We would also like to give a special mention to Bishop Auckland Gun Club who have been fantastic in their support of the shooting aspect of Modern Pentathlon, supplying us with the use of a dedicated 10m range and equipment. A great big thank you to County Durham Sport, in particular Catherine Watson, for their help and guidance through the Clubmark process and last but not least to our athletes, without whom there would not be a Modern Pentathlon presence in the region.” Sandy Mitchell, Strategic Partnership Manager, County Durham Sport says: “It’s great to see a club that offers such a diverse range of activities commit to good practice. Parents can be guaranteed a safe and welcoming sporting environment at Pentathlon GB North and we would like to congratulate the club on its accreditation.” For more information about Pentathlon GB North, please visit the website www.ourteamnorth.co.uk. To find out about how your club can become accredited if you have a non-accrediting National Governing Body, please contact Catherine Watson on 0191 301 8683 or email catherine.watson@durham.gov.uk *** CLUBMARK *** Pentathlon GB North are proud to announce that they have gained Clubmark status. We believe we are the first Pentathlon club in the country to achieve this accreditation. We would like to thank all of the people who helped us to achieve this. *** AGM *** Our Annual General Meeting will be held on Thursday 20th May at Maiden Castle Sports Centre, Durham at 8pm. We would appreciate as many people turning up for the meeting as possible so that we can discuss the future of Modern Pentathlon in the region and how we can move forward. Many thanks and look forward to seeing you there. *** National Triathlon 14th/15th November 2009 *** Northern region athletes travelled to Wolverhampton on the 14/15th November for the national triathlon championships. The athletes had success on different levels. Gareth Allen in the youth A boys had a really good swim of 2.02.48 for 200m in the swim, shot 166 and had one of his best runs since his foot injury to finish in a great 16th place. In the youth A girls we had a strong turn-up of Roberta Jenkinson, Rebecca Barwise-Munro, Megan Lewis and Tabitha Allen all competing and finishing 3rd, 6th, 9th and 14th respectfully with Rebecca and Roberta claiming individual medals. Rebecca, Tabitha and Megan came second in the team event. Rebecca’s sister Suzanne competed in the youth C girls and finished 21st out of 33 with 3 good performances that deserved a better placing. Rachel Gray in the junior women after shooting 142 and winning best swim was leading the field and unfortunately could not compete in the run but only dropped to 3rd. Lauren Richardson in the youth B girls still on the road to full fitness scored 151 on the shoot, achieved a one second seasons best in the swim and a 45 second improvement in the run. This saw her finish 21st out of 25 but is looking good and continues to improve. Last but not least Jon Fletcher shot 172, had a swim time of 2.14.41 and won best run with an amazing time of 8.56.68 for 3km. He finished 2nd overall. These performances show that despite only being a small region with a limited number of competitors in comparison to other regions; our level of success is phenomenal and proves how hard you work, the higher the level of success achieved. WELL DONE ALL!!!! *** URGENT *** One of the parents at the Schools Biathlon in Hexham Inadvertently put her phone and purse into the wrong bag, please check your bags and if you find the purse and phone ring Linda on 07842821854. I have the parents contact details and will arrange to get her property back to her. Many thanks Linda *** Regional Schools Biathlon 1st Nov 2009 *** At the moment we have an amazing 347 entries for the Schools Biathlon - we had 130 last year, an amazing increase! Can I please put out a request for anyone who can volunteer to help during the competition with timekeeping, scoring etc. to get in touch with Linda Richardson. Due to the numbers we need additional volunteers please. Any help is appreciated. Contact Linda on 07842821854 or e-mail lindarichardson.southfield@virgin.net Many thanks. *** Regional Schools Biathlon *** Entry forms were dispatched to all schools in the region at the end of August. If your school does not have forms please contact either Linda or John or Pentathlon GB Head Office. Closing date for entries is 2nd October 2009. *** Regional Triathlon and Open Biathlon 2009 *** Entry form is now available in the entry form section of the website. *** Regional Biathlon and Open Triathlon *** On April 5th, Northern Region biathletes congregated in Durham to compete in the regional biathlon and open triathlon. Numbers were a little disappointing due to other competitions on the same weekend, so next time bring a friend. We started with the shoot and some good scores were produced whilst others in their first competition did really well. The weather was glorious as we started the run with some good strong performances on the track at Durham University Sports Centre. The swim over at Ackley Heads Police HQ produced some very good competitive swims. Good luck to all competitors who qualified for the nationals at Macclesfield in May. Full results can be found in the results section of the website. *** National School Biathlon *** Congratulations to those who competed in the National Schools’ Biathlon. You all did the region proud and below you will find a list of those who competed and their finishing positions. We look forward to seeing you on September 27th for the Regional Triathlon and Open Biathlon and on November 1st for our Regional Schools’ Biathlon. Position Year 5 Boys Aiden Crombie (C) 20th Martin Leng (T) DNC Jack Magor (T) DNC Adam Magor (T) DNC Year 5 Girls Hannah Featherstone (C) 17th Year 6 Boys Jamie Garbutt (C) 4th Charlie Mcskeane 7th James Keenan 33rd Matthew Senior 48th Year 6 Girls Amy Attle (C) 49th Year 7 Boys Matthew Keenan (C) 4th Year 7 Girls Hannah Kitchener (C) 9th Suzanne Barwise-Munro 34th Molly Flint (T) 54th Elizabeth Lawson (T) 56th Catherine Florek (T) 58th Team position 7th Year 8 Boys Liam Boyek (C) (T) 11th Lee Hibbits (T) 36th Alexander Attle (T) 37th Team position 5th Year 8 Girls Megan Roberts (C) 20th Amy Larsen (T) 37th Grace Pettifer (T) 38th Ella Murphy (T) 39th Team position 4th Year 9 Boys Matthew Mawson (C) 22nd Year 9 Girls Carly Webster (C) (T) 22nd Jenna Hills (T) 23rd Elizabeth Mooney (T) 35th Team position 4th Year 10 Boys Alexander Grundmann (C) 13th Year 10 Girls Nicole Burlinson (C) (T) 2nd Elizabeth Templeman 13th Katie Templeman 12th Chloe Coates (T) 14th Rebecca Ladyman (T) 26th Team position 1st Year 11 Boys James Garland (C) (T) DNC Levi Lawrence 11th Philip Shuttleworth (T) DNC Alasdair Inverarity (T) DNC Team position Year 11 Girls Sarah Murray (C) (T) 6th Kayleigh Dawson DNC Elizabeth Pettifer (T) 15th Julia Smith (T) 21st Team position 4th Year 12/13 Boys Christopher Wilkinson (C) DNC Year 12/13/ Girls Megan Lewis (C) 9th Caroline Smith (T) 22nd Olivia Brown (T) 23rd Eve Mackey (T) 28th Team position 7th Teachers Joanne Summers (C) (T) DNC Amy Swainson (T) DNC Jo Hopper (T) DNC Key: (C) = Champion (T) = Team (DNC) = Did not compete *** Invitational Schools Biathlon - August 2009 *** There have been a few enquires at Head Office about the Schools Invitational at Crystal Palace. They thought that it would be a good idea to send out a few facts: 1. Boys will be held on Saturday 15th August 2. Girls will be held on Sunday 16th August 3. Invitations to attend will be sent out by the beginning of May 4. The top two athletes from each Regional Schools Championships, from each school year, from each gender, will be invited to attend 5. The top two athletes from the British Schools Biathlon Championships, from each school year group, from each gender, will be invited to attend. If these athletes have already qualified then the next positioned athlete that has not qualified already will be invited to attend. *** National Schools Biathlon Qualifiers *** We've gone through the lists of results supplied on the Pentathlon GB website and pulled out a list of all qualifers from our region. Please check out the results section of the website and click on the Schools Biathlon Qualifiers 2008 link to see who has qualified. Full rankings and details of how to enter are available on the Pentathlon GB Schools website. Great big congratulations to everyone who qualified and good luck for the National competition. *** North East Schools Biathlon 7th December 2008 *** A successful 1st North East Schools Biathlon at Wentworth Leisure Centre in Hexham. Previously this event has been held in conjunction with Yorkshire region. Competitors from year 5 up to year 13 and teachers compete for the chance to represent their schools and the region at Bath in March an added incentive this year was that the top two in each age group and gender would be invited to compete at an Invitational Biathlon to be held at Crystal Palace in August as part of the Modern Pentathlon World Championships programme. The winner in each group automatically qualifies for the Nation Schools Biathlon Championship and all others have to wait to be ranked nationally to see if they qualify, fingers crossed. Congratulations go to our champions: Year 5 Aidan Crombie and Hannah Featherstone Year 6 Jamie Garbutt and Amy Attle Year 7 Matthew Keenan and Hannah Kitchener Year 8 Liam Boyek and Megan Roberts Year 9 Matthew Mawson and Carly Webster Year 10 Alexander Grundmann and Nicole Burlinson Year 11 James Garland and Sarah Murray Year 12/13 Christopher Wilkinson and Megan Lewis, with a special mention to Amy Roberts who scored the same points as Megan, but was placed 2nd. Teachers Joanne Somers Good luck to all our champions in Bath for the National Championships in March and to all those who qualify through the rankings, keep an eye on the schools section of the Modern Pentathlon website. A big thank you to all the volunteers who made the whole thing possible and also to Geoff and his team at Wentworth Leisure Centre without whom we would have had no event.