Junior brothers aiming for Hever
Aged 11, 13, and 15, the Burgess brothers begin their Castle Series blog
Stephen (15), Nathan (13) and Zack (11) Burgess are three brothers in Hertfordshire who love doing triathlon and have been doing the junior circuit in the south and east for about 3 years. They got into it by being active in all three disciplines and so their Mum suggested they give triathlon a go.
They did a junior triathlon at St Albans and haven’t looked back. They still enjoy swimming with Berkhamsted Swimming Club, riding with Hemel Hempstead Cycling Club and running with Tring Running Club all of which are very close to home and great clubs to be part of for training and camaraderie.
Stephen has acting ambitions, Nathan lives for football and Zack has high hopes of getting a dog… but together they dream of triathlon success and all making the podium! Stephen & Zack also enjoy martial arts (karate & judo). Stephen has trained for many years and has been rewarded with a black belt in karate. Nathan loves team sports and as well as football, plays rugby, cricket, basketball and rounders. Zack enjoys being with his friends in Scouts and kayaking, too.
For the last two years they’ve all been active on the Eastern Region triathlon circuit and, in 2013, Stephen has begun to complete in the Youth Super Series. This feeds some competition between the older boys – Stephen loves being the best in the family and Nathan would rather like to take that role off him.
Open-water challenges
Being limited to junior events none of the boys have a great deal of experience in open water. This means the Castle Triathlon Series race at Hever will be a rather new experience for Nathan and Zack and a challenge especially for Zack. He, in particular, is nervous about it and wants to know how cold it’ll be and how quickly his wetsuit will come off.
Stephen’s favourite part of triathlon is the cycle and he rides a Cervelo S2. His hero is Alistair Brownlee because he dominates every race he does at whatever distance and he manages to deal with pressure.
Nathan loves the cycle in triathlon especially with his new Trek 1.2. He is an Arsenal supporter and his favourite sporting star is Jack Wilshire because, after seventeen months of injury, he came back better than ever. As much as Nathan loves football he dreams of pursuing his sporting career in triathlon. His triathlete hero is Jonathan Brownlee as he is the middle Brownlee, like Nathan is the middle Burgess. His dream for the future is to get to senior races and compete for medals.
Zack enjoys the swim part of triathlon and he prefers doggy heroes, especially those that are shaggy and cute. He likes to get on the podium at events but realises he needs to get faster at running.
They’re all very excited to be competing at Hever and will be training hard over the summer. Stephen will be paying close attention to his swim and Nathan and Zack have to practise hard at the run. They have lots of events coming up over the summer to practice their skills including a return to St Albans and Kimbolton, both in July.
You can follow the brothers’ Hever progress here over the next few months. For more on the Castle Series, head to www.castletriathlonseries.co.uk
Matt Baird
Editor of Cycling Plus magazine 
