Bishop Auckland brother and sister Hayley and Matthew Bradley were on top form at the National Schools Biathlon finals at at Crystal Palace in London on the 27th of March.
As previously reported Hayley (aged 16) and Matthew (aged 13) qualified for the finals after success in the northern qualifier at Hexham in October and then at the semi-finals in Macclesfield in January.
Hayley, a pupil at Durham High School for Girls, ran her 1000 metres run in a personal best time of 3 minutes 58.20 seconds improving on her semi-final by 7 seconds.
She then swam a 100 metres freestyle, again achieving a personal best time for a 50M pool swim of 1 minute and 06.88 seconds. This positioned Hayley in 8th place overall.
Hayley was very excited to have achieved such a high position and to have improved her place in the rankings.
Matthew, a pupil at St. Johns Roman Catholic School and Sixth Form College in Bishop Auckland, also ran a personal best time over 1000 metres of 3 minutes and 20.86 seconds.
Matthew excelled yet again in his swim achieving a time of 59.86 seconds for 100 metres freestyle. A personal best in a 50M pool, he also took the best swim medal in the Year 8 category being the only year 8 to go under the minute. Matthew finished in 2nd place overall.
Hayley and Matthew enjoyed the whole event and were pleased to represent their schools at such a prestigious venue.
Bishop Auckland's local community newspaper.
