PLYMOUTH Triathlon Club held the first ever open junior water aquathlon in the South West for triathletes aged between 8 and 16. Several of the Zest group entered all, achieving excellent results.

Tristar 3 (age 13 and 14) took to the sea off the coast of Mountbatten and swam 400 metres in the cold water. After their swim, athletes ran up the slipway onto dry land along the seafront to the transition area where they took off their wetsuits and put on trainers to start the 3km run out onto Plymouth's breakwater.

Will Carter finished third in an overall time of 14.48mins and Tom Green not far behind in seventh (15.25). Sarah Hornby in the girls' race finished an impressive fifth (15.54).

Tristar 2 (age 11 and 12) then followed, being started en masse in the water with the sound of a klaxon. Hannah Greep, Pete Jarman and Ryan Helcoop all had a fantastic 250-metre swim and then continued their good form on the 2km run with Hannah gaining first place in the girls' in a time of 11.22mins and Pete in the boys' race coming third (11.17), closely followed by Ryan in fourth (11.56).

Next to go down to the water's edge to await the start were the 9 and 10 yr olds. Emily Ackford achieved second place in the girls', having swum 150 metres and ran 1.5km in an overall time of 6.59. Jordan Channon came a close second in the boys' event with a time of 5.50mins with Matt Green following him home in third (6.52).

Well done to all the Zest athletes in their first open water competition and thanks go to their coach Paul Chinn for training them.