Modern Pentathlon - how hard can it be?

UPROAR in the world of modern pentathlon? Surely not.

TROUBLE IN PARADISE: Shooting and running format could dominate World Championships in Crystal Palace

It could well be considered the purist Olympic sport - devised by the founder of the modern Olympics, Pierre de Coubertin.

It is a five-event quest to find, in de Coubertin's words, "the ideal, complete athlete".

Fencing, swimming, show jumping, shooting and running - all completed in one lung-busting day.

But in November 2008, the sport's governing body, UIPM, compacted those five events into four - with the 3000m run split up into three 1000m runs, intersected with shooting rounds.

The idea was to make the sport more television and spectator-friendly in light of the IOC nearly throwing it out of the Olympic Games in 2005. Softball and baseball got the chop instead.

But it was a decision which received widespread criticism from competitors. Uproar indeed. 

It has essentially turned the final leg - a staggered start in which the first person to cross the line wins the overall competition - into a different proposition altogether, with competitors required to shoot with their heart-rate at 170-180 beats per minute.

But how hard can it be? Point a pistol down a range and run 1000m. Repeat as necessary. 

So, with the Modern Pentathlon World Championships coming to London this weekend, I joined the British team to give it a go.

The group of invited journalists - all decked out in their finest sporting attire - huddled nervously on the infield of the Crystal Palace athletics stadium, where the shooting range has been built. 

I was assigned a safety supervisor to ensure no Wild West re-creations ensued between rival journalists, loaded the air rifle and pointed it down the 10m practice range.

My first impression? The targets are small. Very small. 

HIT AND MISS: My Scattergun approach served me fairly well on the practice range but not so much on the competition one

But having earlier watched the professionals give it a go it looked easy. I'm a dab hand with a rifle at the funfair - AND they have a crooked barrel.

I can assure you it is not easy. Lift the gun, look down the sight and before you know it your arm is shaking. Who would have thought it'd be so difficult to keep still? 

The practice target was a paper sheet with a black circle in the middle - the area that would score in competition - surrounded by a significantly larger target.

First shot - miss. Second shot - miss. Third shot - miss. And I was missing the large target all together. 

In competition, each time a participant completes a 1000m run, they find their position on the range and take their first shot.

From the moment that first shot is fired, they have 70 seconds to hit the target five times - a series of red and green lights indicate whether they are successful. 

The best competitors take about 45 seconds to hit all five. If you're still there at 70 then it's time to move on to the next run, no doubt lagging behind the rest of the field.

After finding my eye and hitting the target, it was time for me to move onto the competition range. 

I stood alongside Olympic silver medalist Heather Fell - no pressure - and pointed down the range.

LEARNING FROM THE BEST: The pressure was on when I was shooting next to Olympic silver medallist Heather

First shot - hit. The first light turns green and the 70 second countdown starts.

Here we go, I thought. I've found a new career.

Needless to say it went downhill from there. My time was up and I had hit the target once. 

Fell was long gone. Sod the running - this is hard enough.

But I had to give it a go and took to the track - just the couple of laps for me. 

I'm no finely tuned athlete and my run in the sun took its toll. This was a completely different ball game - breathing heavily, I had no chance of hitting the target, not even close.

RUNNING MAN: A couple of laps of the track and trying to keep a steady hand was simply not going to happen

And now I understood the demands placed upon pentathletes in this new finale. It makes for exciting stuff but you can't help but feel the spectators have been put before the athletes. 

But top marks to those who continue to forge a world-class career out of it - and fencing, swimming and show jumping to boot.

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