More confusion today at the Yth B European relay events. But not falling at the door of GBR Team, we had a good day with the Girls and Boys teams taking Bronze in the team relay event. Full results and photos can now be found at: http://www.pentathlon.by/95-viza.html

After being left in hotel all day and only getting the coach to the venue at 4pm this afternoon and the serious delays due to a power cut and then sunshine too bright sunlight for the targets to function, the combined event managed to get under way.  Aylish Paisley, Kerenza Bryson and Georgina Summers went in the first detail. All three girls had a good combined event and moved themselves up into the top 15 hence ahead of some in the final detail. This confirmed their performances that have been seen in training. Naomi Craig went off 2nd in the final detail and had 2 of the best shoots of her life coming into the 3rd shoot in 1st place but unfortunately she timed out on 50 seconds on the last shoot and dropped herself down to 10th place. 43 girls and 10 teams started the day.

The boys were all in the 2nd detail due to their strong swims with Henry starting in 2nd place and Myles in 4th, William in 21st and Harrison 26th.  The boys had 56 starting with 12 teams. Henry had not his best day on the range and came in to the final shoot in 3rd place but unfortunately stood on the range and dropped to 12th place at the end of the final run. Myles dropped to 29th and William to 24th but the performance of the boys was Harrison Yarnold who moved himself into 8th place with a very strong shoot and run. Overall results:

Harrison Yarnold               8th
Henry Choong                   12th
William Eccleston             24th
Myles Pillage                     29th
Team                                   4th

Naomi Craig                      10th
Kerenza Bryson                 11th
Aylish Paisley                     14th
Georgina Summers           15th
Team                                   2nd        

On 17 April 2013 PGB posted a notice about the safe use of laser pistols.

We reinforce and expand this as follows:

LASER SAFETY

1. Treat all laser pistols as if they were pellet.  ALL RULES RELATING TO PISTOLS – LASER OR PELLET – MUST BE STRICTLY OBSERVED AND WILL BE ENFORCED.
2. NEVER WALK IN THE LINE OF FIRE OF ANY PISTOL, LASER OR PELLET. 
3. All pistols, whether used with pellet or converted for use with laser should always be treated as potentially dangerous weapons.
4. They must never be pointed at anyone else and when not in use should always be either boxed or left unloaded, with breach open, pointed down the range. 
5. Unauthorised removal of pistols from boxes on or off range should be penalised through the rules.
6. Warning notices (designed to reinforce the regime applicable to pellet pistols) should be placed at the range at access points.
7. Be aware of the risk of reflected laser beams from surfaces such as glass, shiny surfaces and mirrors (for instance if used to check on sighting).
8. We will require all laser devices to carry warning labels to that effect.  We are arranging for a supply of appropriate labels for pistol and their boxes.
9. Laser pistols should not be used in continuous beam mode, even for training sessions. 
10. Laser pistols should be kept in locked gun safes to increase parental control of laser devices outside competition and training. Lasers are not toys and should be treated with cautious respect.  We want to eradicate all risk of injury in the home.

In summary, do not use continuous beam unless advised that you should do so – and never point a laser pistol at anyone.

Jon Austin                                                                                             
CEO
Pentathlon GB

Pentathlon GB are looking to recruit a Freelance Coordinator for the South East Region.

We are seeking an enthusiastic individual with strong administrative and inter-personal skills to be a freelance co-ordinator who will nurture our future talent in the South East Region and provide the stepping stone to towards their possible inclusion in our World Class Programme.

We envisage this would be a contract for services and fees will be agreed with the successful contractor based on the delivery of agreed outcomes.

If you would like to discuss this further then please speak to Peter Evans on 07855 957924.

To make an application please send your CV and covering letter to eleanor.guest@pentathlongb.org by the closing date of Friday 05 July 13.

Jan Bartu, Performance Director

E-mail: Jan.Bartu@pentathlongb.org, Mobile: +44(0)7921 100859, Office: +44(0)1225 384021

Team Selection Update 10 June 2013

Junior European Championships, Sofia – Bulgaria, 17 – 25 June

Women: Joanna Muir, Eilidh Prise, Kerry Prise and Alice Fitton

Men: Joseph Evans, Luke Tasker, Samuel Curry and Thomas Toolis

Leader: Patricia Prise

Coaches: Istvan Nemeth and Michal Janca

Jan Bartu

Performance Director

On behalf of the Pentathlon GB Performance Team

The Pentathlon GB Ranking List No.2 has been published here.

You can watch the GBR Team live online now at http://www.compentint.hu/live

And the results are being shown on the UIPM Website

Great Britain once again proved the best team at the Biathle World Tour in Tirennia, Italy.

The small team of fourteen athletes came away with 11 medals.

In the younger age groups There were emphatic wins for Sophie Mabbs, Jessica Sutton, Hannah Stanton and Bradley Sutton.

The next World Tour event will be the British round at Weymouth on 6th July. Full results from Italy will appear on the results page.

As one of Britain’s top modern pentathletes and Olympic silver medallist at the 2008 Beijing games, Heather Fell is highly skilled across the disciplines of  fencing, swimming, show jumping and running and shooting. 

However, Fell - who trains locally at the Pentathlon GB High Performance  Centre at the University of Bath - is about to step out of her comfort zone by undertaking the Deloitte Ride Across Britain ultimate cycle challenge to raise money for the Bath Rugby Foundation. 
 
From the 8th to 16th June, Fell will join a group  of local cyclists,  including former England and Bath Rugby players, Lewis Moody, Danny Grewcock and David Flatman, to cycle from John O’Groats to Land’s End covering a distance of 982 miles in nine days.
 
Fell said: “I love a challenge and I love trying new sports so when this opportunity arose I jumped at it. I must admit. I have wanted an excuse to try cycling ever since getting the Olympic fever last summer. The fact that I will be supporting a local charity that uses sport was another strong pulling point."
 
Celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, the Bath Rugby Foundation is an independent charity, 100 per cent funded by grants and donations from businesses and individuals. Their aim, through their award-winning Education and Inclusion programmes, is to enhance the lives of children and young people through sport, in particular those who have a disadvantaged lifestyle. The Foundation helped 22,500 children in 2012 and is proud to have worked with over 125,000 children since it started in 2003.
 
Donations can still be made to support Heather Fell’s challenge and the Bath Rugby Foundation through : http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/HeatherFell
 

Deloitte Ride Across Britain:
 
The Deloitte Ride Across Britain sees over 700 riders take on the legendary 'End to End' each year.
 
The route for 2013 is as follows:
 
Day One: John O'Groats to Kyle of Sutherland
 
Day Two: Kyle of Sutherland to Fort William
 
Day Three: Fort William to Glasgow
 
Day Four: Glasgow to Carlisle
 
Day Five: Carlisle to Aintree
 
Day Six: Aintree to Ludlow
 
Day Seven: Ludlow to Wincanton
 
Day Eight: Wincanton to Launceston
 
Day Nine: Launceston to Land's End

Caption: Heather Fell at Bath Rugby's Farleigh House (Deloitte Ride Across Britain for Bath Rugby Foundation)

Picture Credit: Taking Pictures-Sport.co.uk

Young British athletes Jamie Cooke and Joe Evans secured top-10 finishes at the Modern Pentathlon World Cup Final in Russia today (Saturday).

Cooke came home in sixth place with Joe Evans just behind him in seventh at the sport’s biggest competition since the London 2012 Olympics.
 
Their performances followed the seventh place achieved by Mhairi Spence, Britain’s reigning world champion, in the women’s competition yesterday (Friday).
 
Cooke went to the World Cup Final in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod after taking gold at the last World Cup round of the year in Hungary three weeks ago.
 
The 22-year-old, who won the World Junior Championships in 2011, clawed his way up the field in the run/shoot this afternoon after going into the final disciplines in 14th place, 41 seconds off the lead.
 
Nineteen-year-old Evans, competing at his first World Cup Final after taking bronze on his World Cup debut in Palm Springs in February, had gone into the run/shoot in third and achieved a creditable seventh place.
 
Jan Bartu, Pentathlon GB Performance Director, said: “Jamie and Joe are achieving top international standard performances.
 
“This is a dream start to the Rio Olympic cycle for the programme,” he added. “We wanted to have new athletes making a mark and pushing back the boundaries. It’s thanks to the Pathway Development Programme that we have that and I’m feeling very satisfied after this competition.”
 
Cooke, whose performance today was his best at a World Cup Final, said: “I’m pretty happy with that, it was better than I expected after the fencing.
 
“It was a good way to round off the World Cup series. I had a really good swim, a good ride and a good combined today.”
 
Evans is competing in his first season on the senior circuit and has already won one World Cup medal and made the finals of all three World Cup rounds he has competed at this year.
 
“If someone had said I’d do that at the start of the season I’d have laughed at them,” he said. “Everything went really well today apart from the running. I just couldn’t keep up.
 
“Seventh is pretty good for my first World Cup Final,” he added.
 
Evans won 19 of his 35 fencing bouts for 11th place with 856 pentathlon points at the start of the day. Cooke’s 11 wins put him 34th with 664 points. Russia’s Ilia Frolov won 26 bouts to lead the competition.
 
Both Brits moved up the leaderboard after the swim. Cooke’s speedy 1:52.80 for the 200m freestyle was the second fastest time of the day – it was only bettered by Egypt’s Amro El Geziry. It earned Cooke 1448 points and saw him move up to 23rd overall.
 
Evans’ 1:57.18 was the third fastest time of the day and was worth 1396 points. That saw Evans move into the top-10 for the first time at seventh place going to the riding arena. Frolov continued to lead overall.
 
Both British athletes rode well. Evans went clear within the allowed time to bag the riding maximum of 1200 pentathlon points. One of eight riders to secure the maximum, that moved the young Brit up to third place.
 
Cooke also went clear and only missed out on the perfect score with the deduction of four time penalties, adding 1196 points to his total, to put him 14th overall.
 
France’s Valentin Prades went into the run/shoot at the top of the leaderboard but with a slender one second lead over Korea’s Jinhwa Jung.
 
Evans was in third spot, starting five seconds behind the Frenchman, with Cooke 41 seconds off the lead.
 
Prades went on to take gold, while Cooke battled his way through the field to take sixth, 40 seconds behind the winner. Evans crossed the line six seconds later.
 
2013 World Cup Final results
Gold:  Valentin Prades (FRA) – 5920 points
Silver: Justinas Kinderis (LTU) – 5900 points
Bronze: Adam Marosi (HUN) – 5896 points
6th: Jamie Cooke (GBR) – 5760 points
7th: Joe Evans (GBR) – 5736 points
 

Britain’s Mhairi Spence came home seventh at the Modern Pentathlon World Cup Final in the Russian city of Nizhny Novgorod today (Friday).
 
The 27-year-old reigning world champion was in the top-10 throughout the day and went into the final event, the combined run/shoot, in second place overall.
 
But despite two sub-13 second shoots, she dropped out of contention for the medals on her fourth and final visit to the shooting range.
 
Team-mates Samantha Murray and Katy Burke ended their campaigns in 30th and 32nd places.
 
Spence made the strongest of starts among the Brits. She fenced well, scoring 24 wins from her 35 contests for joint third place with 976 pentathlon points.
 
Murray’s 19 victories put her 19th with 832 points, while Burke ended her fencing campaign strongly to finish with 15 wins for joint 23rd and 760 points.
 
Tatsiana Yelizarova of Belarus led the field with 26 wins.
 
Spence moved to the top of the leaderboard after the swim. Her 200m freestyle time of 2:13.26 was the 10th quickest of the day, earning 1204 pentathlon points.
 
But it was Murray that went fastest in the pool – her 2:07.23 was the fastest time of the day, adding 1276 points to her total, promoting her to seventh overall.
 
Burke also climbed up the field. Her 2:11.73 was sixth fastest and was worth 1220 points. That saw her go into the ride in 18th place.
 
Spence maintained her challenge at the top of the leaderboard with a solid ride. She had just two fences down to add 1120 of the maximum 1200 to her total score. That put her second overall behind Ukraine’s Ganna Buriak, one of four riders to go clear in the allowed time in the riding arena.
 
But Murray didn’t fare so well, taking 812 points from the ride, she dropped to 26th place overall.  Burke dropped three places to 21st after taking 1016 points from the ride.
 
It meant Spence went into the run/shoot 10 seconds behind Buriak, with another Ukrainian, Victoria Tereshuk and Brazil’s London 2012 Olympic bronze medallist Yane Marques starting in joint third just a second her.
 
Burke started a minute and 26 seconds behind the leader, with Murray a further 19 seconds back.
 
It was Tereshuk, the Beijing 2008 Olympic bronze medallist and 2011 world champion, who went on to win gold, with Russia’s Ekaterina Khuraskina taking silver and Ganna Buriak of Ukraine going home with bronze.
 
Tomorrow (Saturday), the young British pairing of Jamie Cooke and Joe Evans contest the men’s event.

The World Cup Final is the climax to the annual World Cup series of modern pentathlon competitions.
 
2013 World Cup Final results
Gold: Victoria Tereshuk (UKR) – 5440 points
Silver: Ekaterina Khuraskina (RUS) – 5412 points
Bronze: Ganna Buriak (UKR) 5388 points
7th: Mhairi Spence (GBR) – 5256 points
30th: Samantha Murray (GBR) – 4816 points
32nd: Katy Burke (GBR) – 4760 points

Shadow Minister for Sport Clive Efford MP met London 2012 Olympic silver medallist Samantha Murray and Pentathlon GB Performance Director Jan Bartu during a recent visit to the University of Bath Sports Training Village.