Highly-respected south-west athletes Lisa Logan and Jenny Dowie, staff members at Woodford, took the school’s 44 entrants through a training program. 

Woodford Tri Stars are among 400 pupils who will tackle the Lake Pertobe course in a first for the region. The Australian Schools Triathlon Challenge started in Tasmania six years ago. The Warrnambool competition is the first time it’s run on the mainland. 

Logan, fresh from an age group win at the Ironman 70.3 Ballarat, said the school had thrown its support behind the event.

“We are just thrilled with the amount of children we have got in the program,” she said.

“We (Warrnambool) are the pilot program for Victoria so they’re really pushing it and we’ve had a lot of great feedback from the governing body because we have so many kids doing it from such a small school.

“Our kids are really excited and we are too.

“Because Jenny and I have had experience in it, we’ve been able to give them a different insight and share our excitement for it.

“A lot of these kids are doers anyway. They’re involved in sport. They love running or play footy.”

Logan, a teacher’s aide, and Dowie, a music teacher, organised three training sessions in the lead-up to the triathlon challenge.

They focused on the bike and run legs.

“We took them down one of our country roads and we practised the cycling leg and then they had to do the run leg,” Logan said. 

“The first week they just did a two-kilometre ride and then a one-kilometre run and last week they did four kilometres, so they had to do a bit further.

“Yesterday was our last practice session and we did transitions in Jubilee Park.”

Logan said Woodford would have pupils in individual and team events today. The challenge caters for children in grades three to six.

“The whole premise is encouragement and participation,” Logan said.

“There will be kids there who can’t really swim so all the swimming will just be chest height.

“They want them to get their heads in the water and just have a try.”