For the past five years Sport Central has organised the Central Otago Primary Schools Sports Association (COPSSA) triathlon on behalf of the COPSSA due to the complications that arise from running events on the road.  Sport Central is able to assist with such events and deal with necessary logistics due to its workforce’s unique abilities.

Sport Central precedes the running of any event with coach visits to most schools.  The focus of the visit is to teach teachers and triathletes how to train toward and compete on the day in triathlon, with special attention being paid to what to do and not to do at transition points.

This approach has seen the event grow from 60 participants to over 600 this year.  While this makes for a full-on event, it is great to see young students taking part in a sport which is a major part of the Central Otago sporting scene.

Students from 19 schools participated in the 2010 Central Otago Primary Schools Triathlon.  The winners came from a spread of schools, with Sienna Strachan from Queenstown Primary winning the Year 5&6 Girls category, and for the second year running Finn Bilious from Hawea Flat won the Year 5&6 Boys category and showed everyone that you don’t have to come from the bigger schools to succeed.  In the teams section, schools from Arrowtown, Cromwell, Wanaka, Alexandra and Tarras all took placings, demonstrating that no one school has yet to dominate this sport.

These type of events have become a big part of sport in schools in Central Otago and according to Sport Central Sport and Education Coordinator Bill Godsall, will continue to grow in the future.