About Millfield News
Triathlon at Millfield
The Summer Term has seen Triathlon initiated as an official games program at Millfield, with a minimum expectation of four swims, three runs and two cycles per week. Training programs vary according to the individual pupil's needs and goals. Multi-sport coaching is supplemented by tri-specific coaching from ‘Driven to Tri' who visit four times a term to give ‘triathlon clinics' on discipline-specific skills such as transition. Pupils will be working toward competing in the South West series with a view to competing in some cases at national level.
Most of the triathletes are keen road cyclists who have been gaining some experience of track-riding and racing, initially through some coached sessions at Newport Velodrome and then at the Dulwich College Inter-Schools' Track Cycling Championships at Herne Hill in London. In the latter, the Millfield team of three came third overall for their performance in three events [1. team pursuit (team of 3: fasted two men over the line on 3 laps) 2. Points Race (15 laps with intermediate sprints and final sprint) 3. ‘Devil Take the Hindmost' (30 laps, last man over the line in each lap eliminated; sprint finish) 4. Individual Sprint Knockout Competition]. Alex James (L6 Orchards) won the individual sprit with times that would place him in the top 20 nationally for his age group. This was his third time on a track. The other boys, Will Radford (Yr10 Orchards) and Chester Allen (Yr9 Butleigh) did well in the other competitions where they concentrated hard to handle themselves safely at high speed in a bunch of up to 30 riders where they managed to avoid three skin-ripping and one collar-bone-breaking crashes on the concrete banking. It was their first time racing and the majority of the boys were older than them.
