IN-FORM Georgina Mitchell continued her fine start to 2017 as she enjoyed victory at the third Pentathlon GB National Youth Ranking competition of the year – the first event specifically for U17 aged athletes.
In the girls’ event, Stratford Athletic Club’s Georgina finished 12 points clear of Kamie Lowe, with Annabel Denton ten points further back in third.
The competition was run as a modern triathlon (swimming, shooting and running), with the swim being held at Cheltenham Leisure Centre and the laser-run (combined run and shoot) at Hartpury College, one of Pentathlon GB’s academies.
The day began in the pool with the 200m swim. It was Yorkshire Pentathlon’s Genna Suddes who recorded the quickest time in the girls’ competition with a fantastic 2:12.72, just over a second quicker than Georgina (2:13.98), with Dacorum MPC’s Alexandra Bousfield third in 2:16.68.
The laser-run at Hartpury saw many changes to the order but, after taking the lead at the first shoot, Georgina, who finished fifth at the recent GB Youth International, maintained her advantage to win the competition.
Kamie, who made her international debut at the GB Youth International in Solihull earlier this month, came second with Georgina’s Plymouth College team-mate Annabel moving up to third thanks to the quickest time in the laser-run (10:56.50).
For Georgina, this follows her finishing fourth and second in the first two U19 Ranking competitions in January and February at Bath University and fifth at the GB Youth International at the beginning of March.
This result sees her selected to represent Great Britain in an U17 international competition in Portugal at the beginning of April, when she will stay for a week-long training camp.
She will then have the second and final U17 ranking competition which doubles up as the British Modern Tetrathlon Championships (April 22/23).
Georgina has also been selected to represent GB in an U19 international competition in Spain at the end of April.
Hopefully she will find some time to revise for her GCSEs too!
Report compiled by Paul Hawkins.
