About Us
Reading Rascals Junior Triathlon Club is a thriving club, set up in 2013 by Ellie Gosling and Kirsty Scott that gives children the chance to develop their swimming, cycling, running and transition skills.
The club is affiliated with British Triathlon and open to youngsters aged 8 - or turning 8 this year - up to 14.
We meet on Saturday afternoons and our training sessions alternate between swimming, cycling, running and transition.
Ideally, all new Rascals should be able to swim 100 meters, have access to a roadworthy bicycle and helmet, and be committed to having fun!
See join us for more information about annual and term fees.
How are we different..
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Every training session is different - no two have ever been the same
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We train in lots of different places
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We are a family friendly club and often involve family members in our training and at our customary end-of-term family breakfast
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Our coaches nominate a male and female "Reading Rascal of the Term" who we feel has shown has shown most commitment to the sport
Ellie Gosling (nee Barnes), Head Coach
Ellie has always been a keen sportsperson, playing netball to a high standard throughout school, college and university. Then Ellie discovered running — and also discovered she enjoyed it! As an runner Ellie achieved a personal best marathon time of 3hrs 7 minutes (Amsterdam, 2009) and half-marathon PB of 1hr 23 minutes (Reading 2015).
Ellie has competed in triathlons of all distance from sprint to Ironman. Along this journey she has been seen on the podium many a time at local, national and international events.
Ellie has three children, Max (born in June 2014) and twins Hannah and Freya (born in November 2015).
Ellie is a Level 3 Personal Trainer, British Triathlon Level 2 Coach, Spinning instructor and is currently studying for an Open University degree in Sports, Coaching & Fitness. Ellie is the owner of Barnes Fitness who run Triathlon Training Holiday Camps.
Meet the Team:
Ian Gosling
Ian comes from a running background having raced all distances up to the marathon. As a keen cyclist he puts the two sports together and regularly race duathlons including qualifying and representing Team GB at the Age Group World Championships in 2014 where he finished 12th.
Ian completed the Haute Route cycle races in 2014 in the Alps and 2015 in the Pyrenees. Ian has also complete the Cotswolds 113 Half Ironman where as a non swimmer he still managed to finish the event in a very respectable 5hrs00mins30seconds.
Ian is Level 1 British Triathlon coach and deliver all aspects of the Rascals training sessions.
Dave Wood
Dave came to triathlon coaching via running coaching and is currently a Level 1 Triathlon Coach.
He is still a keen runner and enjoys challenging himself over long distances and difficult terrain. His achievements include completing the 56 mile Comrades ultramarathon in South Africa (twice), running the Endure 24 hour race solo, and completing marathons across the world from the desert of Jordan at 41C to the polar ice cap in Greenland at -25C.
When he’s not trying to run ridiculous races he likes to relax with his incredibly understanding girlfriend.
Kirsty Scott
Kirsty loves all sport and enjoys the feeling of being fit and pushing herself to the limit to get the results she wants. Kirsty's main sport is swimming, which she started at aged 8 and achieved numerous county medals and progressed to break the 100m backstroke British record before having a break from the sport to get married and start a family.
Now a wife, mum, ASA Swimming Teacher, Level 3 Personal Trainer and Level 2 British Triathlon Coach and co-founder of her own swim-school, KC Swimmers, Kirsty loves leading by example by encouraging everyone to “just try it”. You will never know how good you can be until you give it a go. Kirsty would never have believed she could complete triathlons, half marathons, row in regatta’s and take part in open water swimming, however she gave it a try and now well and truly has caught the fitness bug.
Juliet Fenwick
Juliet was active but not sporty growing up. After earlier less successful attempts to get fit as an adult she got into running and fitness properly in 2012, starting at parkrun and a few Barnes Fitness events! This escalated somewhat over the next few years with her first Duathlon the following year and Triathlon in 2014. Since then she's had a go at swimming, cycling and running at most distances from 100m sprint (Veteran's league!) to RideLondon, and Tri from super sprint to middle distance.
Not someone who will generally appear in the top end of the results list, for Juliet it's more about getting outdoors, training with friends, enjoying the scenery and the satisfaction of completing a challenge. She hopes to show that you don't have to be super athletic or talented to enjoy training for and competing in your favourite sports. Juliet began helping with Rascals around 2017, and qualified as a level 1 coach in December 2019.
Milly Pelmore
Milly discovered her first triathlon at school - being a competitive swimmer who wasn’t afraid to give anything go, she was given a bike and off she went. She then forget about it for 20 years until lockdown 2020 led to a chance entry into a local triathlon, and the rest is history. As an athlete, her main focus is the 70.3 (middle) distance although a recent broken ankle has postponed the World Championship dream - 2025 here she comes! Although a competitive age-grouper herself, Milly has endometriosis and is a firm believer that nothing should be a barrier to finding a sport you enjoy and that triathlon is for everyone, whether you’re reaching for the pointy end of the results or dancing at the back.
Having worked in both elite and grassroots sport, Milly realised she wanted to spread her love of being active with everyone she meets and made a drastic career change to be more directly involved with athletes and young people. She is a Level 2 Open Water Swimming Coach, British Triathlon Foundation Coach and secondary school teacher. During the little time spent not coaching, training, racing or talking about triathlon, Milly can be found dragging her husband Chris out for a run, or walking their Labrador Orla.