Athlete Fin Saun­ders was called up to race in the elite team for the first time at the sprint distance triathlon on June 5 at Blenheim palace.

Not only has it been Fin’s dream to race for Great Britain in his age group, which he has done several times, the ultimate dream was to race against the pros in the elite squad, and this weekend his dream came true.

Fin was racing against other professional triathletes, in­cluding the legend that is Alistair Brown­lee and Gordon Benson, who have both been named as two of the triathletes going to Rio for the Olympic Games.

The triathlon was also close to Fin’s heart as he was racing in support of the charity Bloodwise, a blood cancer charity.

Fin’s father has been diagnosed with myeloma and is undergoing treatment at the mo­ment, meaning there was lots of emotions for Fin during this triath­lon.

He only found out on the morning of the triathlon that Alistair would be racing as Fin happened to spot him going to collect his race pack.

The nerves kicked in even more for Fin at this point as he realised that not only was he racing in the elite team, he was racing in the same team as his idol, even enjoying a quick chat with Alistair before the swim start.

In the event Fin conquered his nerves to do fantastically in the race, completing it in one hour and 10 minutes.

The next two races are local for Fin and he will be looking for podium finishes in both. The first is South Hams triathlon at Blackpool Sands on June 12, followed by the Geopark triathlon at the end of July in Torquay.

The next big race for Fin, taking place in Mexico, is the ITU World Championships in September, where Fin will once more be in the GB age group team.

Following that, next year is the GB Age Group Duathlon Euro­pean Champion­ships in Germany.

Fin is currently looking for sponsors to help fund these races, if there is a company that feels they would like to sponsor a local GB athlete then please get in touch with Fin by email on [email protected]