At the Papamoa Primary School assembly on Friday morning, the school community celebrated the team that won the 2019 Generation Homes Women's Triathlon Corporate Challenge Cup last Sunday.

They also celebrated the winners of the school triathlon, which had been held during the week.

The corporate category of the women's triathlon is a new one that was introduced last year, with the cup sponsored by ACC Made Easy Ltd.

'Last year I did the women's triathlon as an individual just to compete and so I could say I'd done one,” says Kelly Sanders. 'And I found they had a corporate award and I thought ‘oh goodness, we've got so many staff who can do it, I'm going to see if I can get a team together, and be able to show the kids.'

'Every year we get the kids to do a triathlon at school so this was a way for them to see that we walk what we tell them to do. And to be able to show them ‘hey you can give anything a go'.”

The Generation Homes Women's Triathlon is an entry level, women's only event that encourages participation of women from the ages 11 and up of any fitness and ability. Participants can enter as individuals or teams of two or three, with a special mother/daughter (racing as individuals) category as well. This year the event was sold out with more than 800 competitors registering.

The team from Papamoa Primary School consisted of Tracey Price, Jess Harper, Erin Burningham, Rochelle Goninon, Nicole Bridson, Jodie Edgington, Fay Warnock, Anna Oglesby, Becky Chicken, Kelly Sanders, Tara Manning, Mel Billman and Stormie Ivamy.

'We didn't know until prize giving that we had won,” says Rochelle. 'What was really great was that there were 13 of us in total, and we were all of different sporting abilities. Some of us were swimmers, some of us were runners, some of us have never swum before, so it was great to show the kids as well, at assembly today, that anyone can do it. And that we're all not super fit sporty. It was also neat that our triathlon was the same week as the school's triathlon.

'The kids did their triathlon and then the teachers, and we had a lot of support out there on the course as well.”

'We were supporting each other through the whole thing,” says Kelly. 'We had our singlets on, and if our family saw the singlets go past, they knew it was Papamoa and they'd cheer us on.

'There's other events throughout this year that people now want to get involved in and be able to do as a team because the vibe was really cool.”

There is already talk amongst the group about competing again in next year's Generation Homes Women's Triathlon.