Brothers Jake and Charlie Stephenson are showing their mettle in a series of successes in local and national triathlons, duathlons and cross-country events. Eighteen-year-old Jake and Charlie, fifteen, who are both students at Richmond School and Sixth Form, are excelling at an elite level and gaining a reputation as Richmond’s answer to The Brownlee Brothers.
In the British Triathlon performance weekend at Loughbrough, Charlie was ranked 6th in youth and Jake was 23rd in the junior class. This was closely followed by the British Duathlon where Charlie took the youths’ silver medal, with Jake coming 4th in the juniors. Most recently Jake was delighted to win the Cleveland standard distance triathlon. The triathlon discipline is a challenging combination of swimming, cycling and running and demands high levels of stamina and determination. In the youth category Charlie swims 400m, cycles 10km and runs 2.5km with Jake swimming 800m, cycling 20km and running 5km in the junior class. Jake and Charlie both competed at Leeds in June with Charlie coming home in 6th place in the youth age group and Jake coming 9th in the junior age group.
The brothers run for the Richmond School cross-country team, as well as the county squad, with Charlie also a member of the Yorkshire team. In addition, they are both members of Richmond Zetland Harriers and Charlie was part of the Richmond Zetland Harriers team which won the Northern cross-country event. Charlie’s list of competitions runs on to multiple events, including the London mini marathon representing the Yorkshire and Humberside team.
Sandra Johnson, Assistant Headteacher and leader of Richmond School’s running club, said: “Jake and Charlie really have been outstanding role models with their positive attitude and sheer dedication to running and sport in general. They train hard, putting in countless hours to improve their performances and show impressive commitment to their sport. They are certainly making the best use of their talents and the school has benefited enormously from their significant contributions. They have been a source of inspiration for many of our younger students.”
Charlie has achieved this success despite facing health issues. He has suffered with Osgood-Schlatter disease for a number of years, causing a lot of pain and he was advised to reduce the amount of sport he was doing. He has now recovered from this condition and the brothers are set to continue competing in triathlon, duathlon and cross-country events. Charlie’s next event is the school games triathlon in August when he will represent the North East Academy.
Charlie concludes: “Without the full support of my parents this would not have been possible, along with the help of Richmond Zetland Harriers, Triology Multisport Solutions and the North East Academy.”