A paramedic, speech therapist, paediatrician and teacher are among the 10 members of Hereford Triathlon Club who will be representing the Great Britain age-group squads at three international championships this season.

In its 26-year history, this is the largest representation of club members to have qualified for Great Britain.

Eliot Taylor, James Richards, Iain Darwood and Nicola Turvey have all qualified for the World Standard Distance Championships in Edmonton, Canada, later this month.

The course consists of a 1,500 metre lake swim, 40 kilometre cycle course and a 10 kilometre run.

Richards will be doing the double in Canada as he has also qualified for the World Sprint Distance Championships and will also be racing the shorter course of 750m swim, 20km cycle and 5km run.

Their club mates Joyce Warburton, Alison Turner, Simon Norwood, Kylie Mansfield and Nicola Goodwin will be travelling to Majorca in October for the European Middle Distance Championships.

Their fellow member Celia Speake is also hoping to be selected for the team after gaining a qualifying time at the recent Cotswold Middle Distance race.

The course consists of a 1.9km sea swim, 90 km cycle course and a 21 km run.

“We’re delighted that so many club members will be travelling to Canada and Spain and representing Great Britain,” said club chairman Mike Parry.

“Many of them were inspired to try for selection by seeing the success of their club mates and it’s wonderful to see some of our newer members making the squad in their first few seasons in triathlon.

"We’re really proud of our reputation for being a fun and friendly club for all abilities but also a place where people are able to progress to compete at the highest level,”

Triathlon is unique in sport as men and women complete in the same races and on the same courses as the professional athletes. The World and European Championships are organised by the International Triathlon Union with the races taking place in different countries and venues each year.

The triathletes were selected by gaining qualifying times in races held across Britain during the past 12 months.