SIX members of the Rossendale Triathlon Club are to do battle in the World Triathlon Championships in Perth, Australia, writes GEORGE KIRBY.

They will compete in three age groups on November 23.

Neil Riding, Jason Howard and Sean Birtwistle will be in the 21-25 bracket, Paul and Cheryl Cook are veterans-40 and Ian Stanford in the 50-55 section.

The event starts with a 1500m swim in open water. Then will come a 40K bike ride with a 10K run to complete the competition.

Jason Howard will fly out to Australia next Tuesday and hopes to stay there for a year.

The rest take the plane on November 9 and return after the championships. Not included in the group are two members of the club who are also among the high flyers in this gruelling sport.

Martin Tonge competed in an Iron Man Triathlon in Holland in August - one of the seven such contests held worldwide.

This itinerary starts with a 2.4 mile swim, continues with a 112 miles bike ride and concludes with running a full marathon.

Gary Prosser was involved in a similar competition in Lanzarote and then in the world duathlon championships - two runs and a bike ride - in Gernika in Northern Spain.

Previous sport story

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.