HEXHAM triathlon club One Life Racing sent five teams to a national championship - and all returned with medals around their necks.

Local competitors put in dominant displays as triathletes from across the country headed to Nottingham for the National Triathlon Relays Championships, One Lifers bringing home three golds, a silver and a bronze.

While One Life have a good track record in the relays, the haul of five medals is the best one yet and the club was overjoyed that every member present earned a medal.

More than 400 teams were entered across the various age categories with the format seeing teams of four tag each other after individually completing the 500m open water swim, the 15km bike leg and the 5km run.

The junior girls started the gold trail for the Hexham crew as the team of Laura Vickers, Ellie Barr, Ellie Bluck and Hannah Pinkney all put in fantastic performances across all three disciplines to clinch the title.

They were joined on the podium by some familiar faces as One Life‘s dominance in the category saw Freya Murphy, Abigail Thomson, Sophie Hayter and Antonia Harrison finish as runners-up.

The boys’ team weren‘t going to let the girls have all the glory though, and Toby Routledge, Jake Duffy, Chris Jackson and Ali Maxwell-Gray made it a second gold with a comfortable victory.

Toby got the team off to a great start in the swim, which was built on by Jake to put them in the driving seat which Chris and Ali held on to. All four performed well on the bike to build up a firm lead which resulted in another first for One Life.

The Ladies’ Vet 40 team of Angela Wylie, Charlie Pinkney, Lucy Courtney and Steph Scott were in a good position to challenge after the swim, before they pushed on and moved into the lead going into the run.

All four put in consistent runs to complement their displays on the bike, and they were well clear as they crossed the line for gold number three of the day.

The men‘s vet 40 equivalent of Mike Little, Martin Bluck, Brendon Jackson and Tim Wylie were involved in a very close battle, and again were indebted to good swims for putting them in a good position early on.

A fine bike leg from all four took them into fourth going into the run legs, and they moved up to third as they passed over to final man Tim who held off a fourth position challenge to earn the last place on the podium by just a matter of seconds.

Club coach Tim said: “It was a fantastic day not only for everyone taking part but for the club and the region.

“As one of the coaches, I was extremely proud, particularly of our juniors not only in terms of their performances on the day but also of their attitude, team spirit and support of each other.

”Their medals were certainly well deserved on all fronts, and they demonstrated the great potential we have at the club.”