READING Blue Coat School athlete Ida Burrows competed in only her third ever triathlon when she represented Great Britain at the 16-19 age group World Championships in Rotterdam recently.

Despite her lack of experience, she managed to achieve a creditable 19th-place finish.

She said: “Although I’ve been running for a while, I’ve been competing in triathlons only since January this year.

“The athletes at the worlds were of a noticeably higher standard. There were so many different nationalities everywhere – plus we got to watch elite racers like Johnny Brownlee.”

The 16-year-old from Waltham St Lawrence trains six days a week, including swimming twice a week and cycling once a week with Thames Valley Triathletes, and running almost every day.

She also competes as a runner for Windsor, Slough, Eton and Hounslow Athletic Club, and will be competing for Blue Coat in the upcoming cross country season.

The school’s head of athletics Simon Cook, said: “To achieve a result like that in a world championship is a wonderful achievement; it takes many hours of training and careful preparation to reach such a level.

“I very much look forward to seeing Ida’s future progression at such high levels of her sport”.