Sibford School pupil Rosie Weston is to represent Great Britain in the 2015 Chicago ITU Sprint Distance Triathlon World Championship.
The 16-year-old, who has only been competing in triathlon events for two years, qualified at the weekend when she became the under 20s British Triathlon Sprint Champion.
The world qualifier event was held at Regatta Meadow, St. Neots in Cambridgeshire, with the swim taking place in River Ouse. Rosie took first place in the under 20’s group completing the 750m open water swim, 24km bike and 5km run in I hour and 16 minutes.
By coming first, Rosie, who has been a pupil at Sibford School since September 2009, qualifies not only for the under 20’s age group in the 2015 Chicago Triathlon but also for the 2016 Lisbon ETU Sprint Distance Triathlon European Championships.
Rosie said: “It was a really good race and, as well as winning the under 20’s age group, my time meant I came 13th out of the total 306 females taking part.
“I’ve always been interested in swimming but I had friends who were into triathlon and they encouraged me to give it a go. Most of my fellow competitors have been taking part in triathlons since they were about eight or nine-years-old so, having only done my first triathlon in 2013, I’m a really late comer to the sport but perhaps that helps … I haven’t had chance to get bored!”
Claire Ferley sports teacher at Sibford School said: “Rosie has done fantastically well to achieve this success. We are all extremely proud of her and will be rooting for her when she competes in Chicago in September.”
The 2015 ITU World Triathlon Grand Final and World Championships will take place in Chicago from 15 – 20 September when more than 8,000 of the world’s best triathletes are expected to compete for world titles over five days of competition.