KELLY College senior and Prep School pupils put in some superb performances at the first of two qualifying rounds in the British School Biathlon Championships.

Biathlon represents the first two events (swim and run) of the five within modern pentathlon. Competitors have to compete against each other but, more importantly, against the clock, to accrue as many points as possible.

Year five boys representing Kelly Prep School - Tom Brew, Jonathan Hawley and Jacob Staig - in their first ever event, produced a fantastic team effort to win the silver medal in the 50m swim and 500m run category. The boys actually achieved equal points to the winning team but, unfortunately, lost out on a count back on placings in order to separate the winners. Individually, Tom finished fourth, Jonathan 8th and Jacob 13th.

Year six boys also representing Kelly Prep School were Ben Dunlop, Nathan Linden, Jack Morris, Mataeo Pearce and Luke Thornton, who all had a great race. Ben Dunlop won this category outright by dominating the 500m run and finishing third in the 50m swim. The team finished first overall and, individually, Ben first, Nathan 7th, Jack Mateo 12th and Luke 31st.

In the year 7 boys, Ben Staig from Kelly College senior School finished second overall, after finishing third in the 50m swim and first in the 500m run. Kelly's year 7 girls, Georgia Jones, Brittaney O'Reilly, Christy Gold and Victoria Moore, made their mark in this age group after all four girls finished in the top four places in the 50m swim, and also placed highly in the run. Individually, Georgia finished first, Brittaney second, Christy fourth and Victoria seventh. The girls also won a gold medal in the team award.

The year 8 boys from Kelly College, Josh Boon, Jordan Channon and Harry Dunlop, were not to be outdone. In the 500m run, it was Jordan who set the fastest time for the team, closely followed by Josh and Harry. In the swim it was a similar story, with Josh producing a strong swim, setting the fastest swim time of the category by a three second margin. With the combined swim and run total it was Josh who finished in first place, closely followed by Jordan in second and Harry in sixth position. The boys dominated this category to win the gold medal in the team event.

In the year 8 girls, Megan Bassett finished 6th and Molly Sellers was close behind. In the Year 10 girls, Victoria Callow produced an all round solid performance, finishing in the top 10. In the Year 11 Boys, Josh Carnell set a blistering pace in the 1000m run to win in an impressive 2min 55sec and also backed his swim up with a personal best time in his 100m freestyle to finish in second position overall. Elliott Boon, unable to run, produced a PB in his 100m freestyle to set the fastest time of the day in all categories. 

In the Year 11 Girls, Ellen Riis-White, finished with a strong all round performance, winning the 100m swim and coming fourth in the 1,000m run, winning a bronze medal in her category.  In the Year 12/13 boys, Cameron Carpenter-Warren won a silver medal after an impressive 1000m run and a win in 100m swim, Bret Bassett was getting back to form and finished 11th and Christian Brown in 14th place overall. In the team event the boys won a bronze medal. The next round of the championships is on January 23.