THREE brothers from Blackbird Leys with a combined age of 167 stormed through the London Triathlon last weekend for charity.

Despite being older than most participants in the contest, Paul, Terry and Peter Brackett came 40th out of 400 teams in their round. The Brackett brothers took on the Olympic distance, comprising a 1.5km swim, 40km cycle and 10km run along the Thames.

They were raising money for Gabriel Masih-Gill, a Headington teenager who needs £58,000 for an operation to help him walk.

Paul, 56, who swam, said: “It was a great day and lovely weather. Everything went almost according to plan, only the congestion messed up our times.

“At one point I felt like I needed to be hauled out of the water. I was getting punched and kicked because there were so many people.”

Despite the complications, Paul completed the swim in 31 minutes.

Terry, 53, was similarly buffeted by other cyclists but finished the stretch on his bike in one hour nine minutes. Peter took 44 minutes to complete his run.

Paul added: “Gabriel and his mum were there and we had a lot of family and supporters.”

Anyone wishing to sponsor the Bracketts can still do so online. For more information visit justgiving.com/Paula-Masih-Gill1/