As tough as they come

By Gavin Staindl
FOUR local students have been selected to represent Victoria for the upcoming National Triathlon school titles in Brisbane.
St Margaret’s Jessica Cox, Brentwood’s Nick Thomas, Berwick Secondary’s Renton Lewis and Kambrya College’s Melanie Hunter were all told of their selection into the Triathlon School Sport Victoria state team two weeks ago following a qualification process that began in November.
The four juniors beat off hundreds of other hopefuls through a series of three qualifying races to qualify for the titles to be held in late March.
Although the four students are from different schools they all train under the watchful eye of Nick Conway who is head coach of the Casey-Cardinia Triathlon Squad.
It is the first time since the inception of the triathlon squad in 2009 that four CCTS members have made it to the national titles.
“It (the squad) is a great community with good values … but it is all about the athletes,” Conway said.
“They are just phenomenal athletes,” he said.
Sixteen-year-old Hunter will be competing in her third national titles but it will be the first time the Year 9 student will race in the girls intermediate category designed for students in Years 9 and 10.
Renton Lewis will compete in the boy’s intermediate category. The 16-year-old is one of five riders, including Hunter, who have been picked up by the Triathlon Identification Programme as a potential successful racer.
Fourteen-year-old Nick Thomas only began racing in triathlons four months ago but has quickly risen up the ranks, qualifying for the junior boys category for boys in Years 7 and 8.
Also racing in the junior category is 14-year-old Jessica Cox who will be one of the hot favourites to take out the junior girls category after winning two of the three qualifying races.
“They deserve to make the team, they are such phenomenal athletes.
“It is a credit to how hard they train and what they sacrifice. They really love it.
“I sat them down in November before they started training and we set out some goals, and what they wanted to do.
“All of them had goals of making the Victorian team and we structured their training so they could qualify and have enough energy to race well at nationals.
“They are definitely really, really happy but they know there is still a lot of work to do,” Conway said.