Thomas Crew Update - November 23rd, 2008

Dear Rotary Club of Bridport
Due to your kindness in sponsoring me I am writing in order to update you on my latest competitions.

I had a great time in South Africa and competing in the World Championships, all the sights and seeing how other people live were a real education for me in many ways. My race went very well, I had one of the largest fields of competitors, with boys from many different countries; South Africa, Germany, Korea, Japan to name but a few. The race was carried out at a blistering pace from the start, during the second run a boy from South Africa collapsed and was on the ground for an hour. I think the heat as well as the level of competition were to blame. Some competitors were coming out of the swim with bite and scratch marks on their legs, it seemed that some of the boys were prepared to go to any lengths to win ! In the end I managed to finish stongly and come ninth overall. Considering this is in the world not too bad !! I also learnt a great deal about competing at this level, all of which will stand me in good stead in the future.

Last weekend I also competed in the South West Region Schools Biathlon Championships at Millfield. This was in the year 11 for boys category. I had a 100m swim which I won by 5 seconds and a 1000m run which I also won. This meant I won overall by over 100 points. As a consequence I have been invited to a Special Schools Biathlon at Crystal Palace. The top two competitors from each region in England have been invited. I will also be competing in the National Schools Biathlon, held at Bath University early next year.

I wish, once again, to thank you so much fro your support, without it I would not be able to achieve what I have in the past or what I am hoping to achieve in the future.

Yours Sincerely Thomas Crew

NOTE:
Biathle is a sub sport of modern pentathlon invented to create opportunities for training the run and swim parts of pentathlon in real race conditions. It can also be seen as a sport in its own right. It bears close resemblance to aquathlon which also contains swimming and running but comes from triathlon sport. It should not be confused with biathlon.
The bottom line of biathle is that the event is a run, swim, run event. It is a woldclass sport but not an Olympic one. A world championship event takes place every year in different places. In 2008 it is in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2009 it is in Monaco.
Both biathle and aquathlon are still in their early stages. It might be logical to unite the two, though aquathlons are generally over somewhat longer distances than biathle events.