Teesside Teenager Shines at World Championships
A Billingham biathlete representing Great Britain finished in seventh place, at the World Biathle Championships last Sunday.
Brad Dixon was selected for Great Britain after impressing selectors at the British Championships in July.
The 15 year old who is a member of Tees Active Sports Academy and Billingham Amateur Swimming Club competed at the World Biathle Championships at Salford Quays in the Youth B category, which is for 15 to 16 year old boys.
The Northfield School pupil was competing against a world-class field, with his main rivals coming from South Africa and Germany.
The biathle competitors had to complete a 1000m run on a course around the streets adjacent to the Salford Quay, a 200m swim in the open water around Salford Quay and then get back into their running shoes to complete another 1000m run.
Brad turned in a superb performance in the swim recording the fastest time of 03:01 of any other competitor in the field. His overall time of 10:02 was a full 28 seconds faster than the time he achieved at the British Championships in July.
Unfortunately, for Brad the South Africans were particularly strong and they occupied the first five positions with Armand Nieuwenhuys gaining gold with a winning time of 09:37.
Brad narrowly missed out on sixth place as his teammate Scott Evans who recorded the same time of 10:02 beat him by the tiniest of margins.
There was no rest for modest Brad who was back in the Forum pool the following day training with his Billingham team mates.
Brad said “Competing in the World Championships has been a tremendous experience and I will obviously be training hard for next years Championships which will be staged in Monaco. By then I will be 16 but still eligible to compete in this category”
For more details regarding Tees Active Sports Academy or to find out about sponsoring the scheme call Academy Manager Allan McDermott on (01642) 528772.