PRIMARY school teacher Natalie Jackson is in a class of her own when it comes to triathlons.

The 25 year-old who lives in Radcliffe and is a member of Bolton Triathlon Club has triumphed in several long distance events in the three-stage discipline, both in the UK and abroad.

She was also a member of the club team that recently clinched second place in the notorious Helvellyn Triathlon – described by Triathlete Europe magazine as one of the top 10 toughest in the world.

“That was really challenging,” she states. “You had to ride your bike up the mountain,which looked impossible, and the run involved climbing upwards over rocks. But the view at the end of it all was amazing!”

Natalie, who teaches at a primary school in Oldham, was born in Salford and lived in Clifton but went to St James’s School in Bolton where she was in both the swimming and cross-country teams. She is from a sporty family: dad Mark is a keen triathlete and coaches at Bolton Tri Club, her brother Nick is a triathlete as is her uncle Steven Jackson.

Natalie began swimming at a very young age and took part in her first triathlon at the age of five! “I just loved swimming, riding my bike and running,” she explains, “so it felt completely natural to me to do all three, although I did used to worry about the transition between the stages and how to get my shoes on quickly!”

Natalie grew up competing, especially in her swimming, representing Salford in competition. She gave up competitive swimming at the age of 16 and didn’t get very involved in sport when she went to Hull University to study “although I’ve always kept up the running – I’m built for endurance!” she states.

Returning to her home area, she joined Bolton Tri Club and took to the regular training involved preparing for competitions. While distances vary for triathlons, when Natalie took part in the Ironman UK in Bolton this year she had to swim 2.4 miles, do a 112-mile bike ride and then run 26.2 miles.

To her great credit, she was home in 11 hours 46 minutes in the famous local event. She has also taken part in triathlons in France, including the legendary Alpe D’Huez and one in Vichy. “It wasn’t an area I knew so I was able to stay on and enjoy the place, which was lovely,” she says. “That’s the beauty of taking part in triathlons in different places, you get to visit areas you probably wouldn’t normally go to.”

None of her success, however, comes without dedicated training. Natalie trains six or seven times a week, fitting it in after school, and stepping up the pace towards race day. She’s also more careful with her diet then “but I enjoy all the training so it’s not really a chore”, she reports.

Natalie pays tribute to her family and their commitment – “it’s much easier training and competing when you’ve got the family there as well.” In fact, although she’s currently enjoying training with her dad and uncle who are taking part in the Ultra Mallorca next year, she can’t go herself - “but the training is useful,” she adds.

Taking part in triathlons has become increasingly popular over the last year or two and Natalie is a firm believer that it’s something many people can do “if they have a decent level of fitness, and especially if they’re good swimmers.”

She loves the discipline now and is looking forward to taking part in a variety of triathlons next year. So do her young pupils know what she does in her spare-time? “Yes, they do ask me about it,” says Natalie. “They’re interested in what I’ve done, which I suppose is a good thing. Yes, perhaps I am leading by example.”

n For more details on Bolton Triathlon Cub go to htt;://www.boltontri.com