Dec-28: Classified ads service to close for January

While we work on a major overhaul to the website during January we will be shutting down the current free classified advert service. At the moment it is not clear whether we will be able to re-launch this as a free service or whether a nominal charge will be levied for all selling ads. Since we started the optional payment button on the page just three donations have been made, two from the same person... Judging by the amount of classifieds we get sent we know that you must consider the service worthwhile -- as long as someone else is prepared to do all the legwork and take the moans about spam and dodgy deals. If you have any comments about a paid-for classified service do please let us know.

Dec-21: Bella interview

Bella Comerford was interviewed on Radio Scotland (on Saturday?) but you can catch it again on the link below. The interview starts around 32 mins in to save you hearing the whole programme. http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/sportscotland/sportsweekly/the_show/index.shtml (Thanks to the Scottish eGroup for that one.)

Queenstown re-scheduled

Should be on BBC2 Grandstand today; 4:30pm to 5:20pm -- unless they catch another terrorist...

Dec-11: Christmas TV

It wouldn't be Christmas without the Hawaii Ironman on Channel 5 so set your video/Tivo for 00:20 on December 29th. The following night there's the ITU's version of the Queenstown World Champs coverage, also on Channel 5 at 03:20.

And, there's Cancun and Athens on tomorrow (Friday) morning at 05:20 on C5. Plus, as already mentioned, Queenstown is on BBC2 Grandstand on Sunday.

Dec-07: National Champions...

Having compiled the ITU Triathlon and Duathlon Champions list -- simply because it doesn't seem to exist anywhere and we needed the information -- we thought that we would take a look at the equivalent list for the BTA. Hardly suprising, but that doesn't exist either! Old copies of the BTA Handbook used to have a historical Roll of Honour but that stopped in the 90s, presumably because it took up too much room. Anyway, back to the filing cabinets and we think we have almost everything now from 1983 (possibly the first year there was a National Championship) up to 2003 -- although this year is a bit patchy as we can't remember some of the results and links to other websites seem to have gone bad!

It makes for interesting reading and if anyone can help fill in the blanks we would be grateful, this sort of thing really ought to be on the BTA site but that's another issue... And, before anyone makes the suggestion, yes -- we will be doing the equivalent age group list but that's going to be an awful lot harder to compile. Again, any data would be welcome.

Worlds update

The new World Champion is Peter Robertson (AUS) with Ivan Rana (ESP) second and Olivier Marceau (ESP) third. For Roberston and Rana this was a reversal of their positions at last year's Championships in Cancun. Best GB finish was from Marc Jenkins in 23rd with Richard Stannard in 41st. Andrew Johns (last year's Bronze) was a DNF on the bike. Very interesting tactics, given the course in Athens, as both Robertson and Marceau broke clear on the bike gaining a full 2 minutes over the pack and only Rana seems to have been able to bridge the gap on the run. Read the full report on the ITU website.

In the Womens race there was a similar tactic but the lead group was of 8 riders rather than two but once on the run Emma Snowsill (AUS) turned on the heat and set a pace that nobody else seems to have been able or willing to match. Her eventual 1:23 lead is an awesome differential given the calibre of the second and third athletes. Final result was Emma Snowsill (AUS) with Laura Reback (USA) beating off Michellie Jones (AUS) in a sprint finish. That, according to our figures, makes an amazing 8 appearances on the World Championship podium for Michellie... GB's only female, Andrea Whitcombe, finished a very creditable 6th having only recently returned to racing fitness.

In the Under-23 women; Catherine Hare was 12th and Karen Sindall 22nd. There were no GB Under-23 men racing. If you want all the details, use their results service website.

Dec-06: Age group success

So far it looks as though we have 4 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze in the age group competition.

#	First	Last	Cat	Pos	Swim	Bike	Run	Total
596	Kerry	LANG	F2529	1	20:34	01:16:54	42:55:00	02:20:22
700	Kristina	SEMPLE	F3034	1	22:03	01:14:31	43:25:00	02:19:58
1123	Lesley	CLIFF	F5559	1	28:38	01:25:46	47:51:00	02:42:14
1163	Dorothy	WAGSTAFF	F6064	1	32:58	01:33:18	59:48:00	03:06:03
1151	Maureen	BURROWS	F6064	2	38:08	01:31:37	01:01:44	03:11:27
910	Penny	ROTHER	F4549	2	24:59	01:20:01	46:57:00	02:31:56
1607	Barry	JAMESON	M5054	2	26:37	01:14:37	37:56:00	02:19:09
1800	Peter	HOWARD	M7074	3	32:09	01:37:51	01:03:49	03:13:48
1422	Thomas	DOUGHTY	M4044	3	21:03	01:09:49	34:54:00	02:05:45

In the Junior competition Helen Tucker placed 5th and William Clark 7th with Mark Bruce 33rd (note, the ITU results show William Clark as both 7th (UNKNOWN GB) and as a DNF...)

Two GB triathletes with a disability, Chris Brogan and Paula Craig, were among twenty three triathletes from six countries who competed in the AWAD race. Paula finished 4th female, 17th overall, while Chris was 22nd.

More results soon or track them yourself on their results service website. Alternatively, we've combined all the results data into a single Excel spreadsheet (sorted by category and time). As always, these are provisional results direct from the timing systems so please don't bombard us with email about missing data - there's nothing we can do at this stage...

Dec-05: Age group report

Jasmine Flatters, the Age Group Team Manager reports from Queenstown: Well, it is now Friday evening here in Queenstown and all the bikes are in transition waiting for the big day tomorrow. After seven days of glorious weather, this evening has brought torrential downpours and the age groupers are looking forward to a damp start to tomorrow's racing. At least we may have a slight advantage over some other countries as our weather back home is more often like this!!

We had our team briefing yesterday and it was quite scary for me to see the whole team together in one room! Having spent the past six months or so talking to each and every team member, I now realised that this was the first time I was seeing all 250+ at the same time!! We were honoured to have the meeting kicked off by a short but inspiring speech from our very own, newly crowned, ITU Aquathlon World Champion, Richard Stannard. I then went on to talk through the mechanics of the race, including the somewhat difficult logistics of getting from one transtion to the other for set up by public transport. The news didn't go down too well that number belts are not allowed, but I won't say anymore on that subject as many of you know only too well how I feel on the matter!!

All in all, the age group team is well prepared and well informed and all they need to do now is race tomorrow to the best of their ability. Let's hope that will include bringing home some medals!

We are told that results will be appearing on the following website: http://www.poprun.co.nz and maybe on the event website too: http://www.triworlds2003.com

I hope to report back on some amazing performances in the very near future. Go GB!!

Dec-05: Tracking the Worlds

Being half way round the world, the races are due to start any time now in Queenstown and you can track the results on their results service website. It looks as though you'll be able to select either by age groups or country and see the races unfold; juniors first, then age group men and then age group women. Tomorrow (Sunday) will be the turn of the elite. Remember, 10 years ago Spencer Smith won in Wellington, his first as a senior, he won the Junior Champs in 92. What chances that we could get a Champion ten years on? Just for fun, and reference, here's a list of past World Triathlon Champions. [If anyone has the data for Duathlon, Long Distance and Juniors then we'd like to add this as well...]

Dec-04: Worlds on TV

According to the Radio Times, the 2003 Worlds will be on BBC2 between 14:40 to 15:40 on Sunday 14th December -- that's NEXT Sunday -- with commentary by Stuart Storey and Steve Trew. Shame we couldn't have had the live feed that Australia and New Zealand are apparently getting...

Dec-03: Core Active training days

A series of training camps are being held at Crystal Palace and Kingston College Sports Arena with Jan-25, Feb-15 and Mar-21 so far confirmed. The camps will be led by Alan Ingarfield, Steve Freestone and Huw Davies, BTA World Class coaches for the London Region. Each training camp consists of three sessions at a cost of £25 per person. Contact Steve Freestone on 07702 555211 or [email protected]

So that's where Stuart went...

We commented earlier that Stuart Hayes didn't seem to be in the elite lineup at the Worlds and part of the reson seems to be that he chose to race at the Laguna Phuket triathlon and placed second. Lots of other GB athletes there as well, Julian Jenkinson came in 8th. If memory serves, and we can't seem to find the definitive answer on the web, this may be the only open water swim where you can do a tumble turn against the temple wall at the half way point... [Update: no, it isn't! Thanks to John Brewer for putting us straight, can anyone remember which one we were talking about?]

Dec-02: Stannard wins Aquathlon title

Richard Stannard won the ITU World Aquathlon race (1k swim, 5k run) this morning in Queenstown, 14 seconds ahead of Brent Foster of New Zealand. In the Womens race Kerry Lang of Scotland finished 4th, missed out on a medal by 4 seconds.

Dec-01: So, who'll win the Worlds...

Mark Cathcart, a regular contributor to the various triathlon discussion groups, has been doing some digging into the backgrouns of this year's World Championships at Queenstown. Apparently the number of competitors currently registered for the worlds in all categories, including elite and AWD (athletes with a disability) is currently 1,724. So, depsite the distance and probably buoyed-up by the prospect of seeing locations for Lord of the Rings, the number of competitors is up from last year, despite the lack of Clydesdale and citizens waves.

Of the major triathlon nations, the USA and the UK do seem to have bowed to the Olympics. While the Brits have registered a squad of three men in Jenkins, Johns (3rd in 2002) and Stannard, other potentials such as Don are missing (Ed: injured back, apparently, and where's Lessing or Hayes...). The same is true for the US camp. While they have perpetual standard distance stalwart for his country, Hunter Kemper, many of the others in the squad are relatively unknown.

Looking at Victor Plata's bio on the ITU web site makes you wonder why some people do it... Injuries: Attacked by rotwieller, attacked by llama, broken ribs, collapsed lung, torn foot, broken foot, broken femur, poison oak over most of his body, hit by three cars and one truck. Other: Never owned a car [Ed. Hardly surprising]

However, Australia have registered a full strength squad consisting of Courtney Atkinson, Greg Bennett, Chris Hill, Bryce Quirk, Peter Robertson and Miles Stewart. Many of the other nations also have their best representatives in, including Spain who have returning Champion Ivan Rana. In what could be construed as a shrewd move, many are hoping to strike gold early rather than wait and chance their hand at the Olympics!

In the womens elite the same doesn't seem to be the case; most of the top women seem to be there including the USA, Canada, Australia, Switzerland and Germany, with only the UK fielding what might be considered either a small squad or an under-strength team, even with the return of current World Champ Leanda Cave, allegedly in a nod towards Olympic success from WCP Director Maw.

As to who'll take the honours - your guess is probably as good as ours. First competition of the week will be the Aquathlon on Tuesday.

Nov-29: News from Queenstown, New Zealand

Jasmine Flatters reports: A large contingent of the GB age goup team landed in Queenstown today. We were greeted by warm weather and magnificent scenery. I was met at the airport by one of the event organisers who proceeded to give me a tour of the course before taking me to my hotel.

At the edge of Lake Hayes, I enquired about the water temperature, and the race director produced a thermometer and took the water temp in front of me. It measured 16 degrees! So much for all the scaremongering...

So far, this is shaping up to be one of the best World Champs I have ever been to - certainly in the most picturesque of settings. The organisation is excellent and the GB team is gearing up for a great race. That is providing their bikes arrive from Auckland - they all had to be sent overland and could take 48 hours to arrive!

The weather is certainly much better than I had been lead to believe, although I have heard that today is the best it's been for a few days.

I'll try to update you with more news as it happens. Jasmine Flatters, GB Age Group Team Manager

Nov-25: Good luck to the GB squad

We somehow doubt that the ITU World Triathlon Championships in Queenstown, New Zealand will be attracting quite the level of coverage that the recent Rugby World Cup did but, on past performance, there's every chance that the GB squad will return with at least some medals. It looks as though the Northern Hemisphere athletes might actually be at an advantage - just as with the Rugby the weather down there isn't exactly the summer warmth that people might have been expecting... Check out the Weather Underground website for a rolling 7-day forecast to see what may be in store for them on December 6th/7th. As always we'll try to keep in touch with reports as and when we get them and (we hope) there might even be some on-the-spot news appearing in the blue box immediately above the main news.

Nov-23: 2004 Europeans in Spain

After much discussion the European Championships for 2004 have been settled on Valencia in Spain with a date of April 18th. The event has a double significance as it's also a Regional Qualifier for the Athens Olympics. This ties in nicely with the World Championships in Madeira (8th/9th May) and the World Duathlon Championships in Geel, Belgium, at the end of May. The choice of a second selection race for the GB athletes hasn't been declared, although there was a strong suggestion that it might be a race in Japan but that was before Valencia was confirmed.

Nov-17: Club links

If you have filled in the form on the clubs page to update your website link from our Links page in the past couple of weeks there's a very strong possibility that we didn't get the data... If you have sent in an update form and the links page hasn't changed to reflect this please could you re-submit the update. Many apologies, and we'll be writing out the correct Javascript code 100 times in our best handwriting...

Nov-16: BTA AGM

Today is the one day in the year when members get to call their Executive Board to account and, assuming anyone bothered to return their voting slips..., vote those Board members in or out of office. No news on the BTA website yet but we certainly won't be suprised if there's absolutely no change at all to the current Board other than those outlined in the voting papers.

Lessing wins in Shanghai

News via the Duathlon.com website that Simon Lessing won the Shanghai Volkswagen Hainan Discovery Triathlon taking 6 minutes off his previous course record. The Chinese Triathlon website also has some details.

Nov-12: Bikes stolen in London

James Hope-Lang of Team Squeeze would like people to keep an eye out for three bikes stolen from his garage in Surrey Quays, SE London. The three are an incredibly rare dark blue Curloo, around size 57cm, with Ultegra, a Principia RSL, size 53cm, anodised green with Shimano 105, and a Tifosi CK1, Black to Silver, size 57cm, with Ultegra and Polar Power meter. He can provide a fuller description to anyone who thinks they have seen any of these bikes, and a reward to anyone providing information leading to the return of any of these bikes.

Nov-09: Bella doubles up in Florida

Just getting the reports in that Bella Comerford has won at Ironman Florida for the second year running, this time ahead of Nicole Leder. No pink cossie this time but a funky spotted one and she seems just as elated. Full details and pictures at the IronmanLive website. For the record this probably makes her our second most successful Ironman athlete ever (male or female) and way out there as our most successful female Ironman athlete.

Nov-07: UK Ironman stays at half

Anyone of the 1,800 people who registered for advanced notice of the 2004 UK Half Ironman will already know this but the event site is taking registrations from them as of this morning. Ordinary mortals will get access to the site on Monday. The race, somewhat disappointingly, stays as a Half Ironman for 2004 but the big change is that it will be a qualifier for the 2004 championships just 8 weeks later and not, as in the past, for the following year's race. Details on their website.

Nov-02: Tim Don gets 4th in Cancun

As the ITU race calendar slowly drifts into the Winter Triathlon season for the Northern Hemisphere there is still the odd race to earn points and Tim Don pulled out a 4th at Cancun today to keep his rankings ticking over nicely. Full story and results on the ITU website.

Oct-29: Race calendar filling already!

Less than 48 hours into the 2004 race calendar updates and already the mailbox is overflowing -- not normally a problem except that the webmaster is currently having a bit of a break in Boston MA... Good job we brought the laptop and the hotel has a free internet connection in every room!! So, if the forms you sent in take a couple of days to appear on the web we hope you'll understand.

Oh, the Royal Windsor entry forms are already up on John Lunt's Human Race website...

Oct-28: Calling all race organisers

Yes, folks -- it's that time of the year AGAIN... The Christmas deccos are out in the High Street already so I must be slipping. If you want your race listed for free on the Triathletes Homepage race calendar now is the time to fill in the forms and click that Submit button. Sorry, we've gone all electronic this year because, basically, I can't be arsed to type it all in again now that those lovely people at the BTA don't supply me with the data...

So, if you want your race listed in the events calendar that most online triathletes use then get those forms back as soon as you like. Remember, it's FREE (quite why I'm not sure but then, it always has been so it seems like a good idea to keep it that way!).

The form is online at http://triathletes-uk.org/raceform.html and remember, it's ONE race PER form. Yes, London Triathlon people, that's ONE RACE PER FORM...

Oct-27: Tristars duathlon

Hillingdon Tristars will be holding their final duathlon event of the season on Sunday 23rd November. Based at Minet Park, Hayes - a purpose-built one mile, traffic-free cycle circuit just 1 mile form the M4 - the event is suitable for all standards. Start time is a very reasonable 10:30 am, and the race distances will be 2.5 mile run / 15 mile bike / 1 mile run. Entries will be available on the day, though advance entries will save £2. Full details and an entry form can be found on their website.

Oct-26: Athens test event

After much re-scheduling the Athens test event took place at Vouliagmeni on Saturday and produced an interesting set of results. In the womens race Jodie Swallow came within striking distance of Gold, only losing out to Michellie Jones in a final sprint. The bike course is seriously testing and the tactics seemed to be to try to break the pack by attacking on the bike. However, Barb Lindquist's early lead was chopped back to create a group of about 20 including Michelle Dillon. The bike tactics took their toll on the run with Swallow, Savege and Jones leading and Dillon and Cave in the chase as well. The final result was Michellie Jones (AUS) 2:06:47, Jodie Swallow, 2:06:48, Pilar Hidalgo (ESP) 2:07.13. Steph Forrester came through to take 6th, Andrea Whitcombe 7th, Jess Harrison 16th, Leanda Cave 23rd, Michelle Dillon 28th and Julie Dibens 35th.

In the men's event much the same tactics were used with Craig Walton taking a 31 second lead but being joined by a group including Marceau and Henning. The main chase group, including Richard Stannard, were 2:48 behind at T2. Shortly after the start of the run, Walton who has been suffering from a nagging foot injury, pulled out leaving Marceau, Fleureton, Henning, Zeebroek and Riederer with a lead that the chase group could not possibly overcome. Hunter Kemper and Volodomyr Polikarpenko were the only ones who made any inroads into the lead, but their efforts were not enough. The leaders dropped Alex Zeebroek and Oliver Marceau on the first lap of the run as Rasmus Henning, Cedric Fleureton and Sven Riederer ran shoulder-to-shoulder at the front. There was no answer to the order of the podium until the last lap when Fleureton and Henning slowly pulled away from Riederer setting up for a sprint finish. It took technical officials 10 minutes to review the finishline video, results and photo finishes to determine the eventual winner - Rasmus Henning by 3/100th of a second.

Tim Don was the only top 10 Brit in 8th with Marc Jenkins 15th, Richard Allen 17th, AJ 23rd, Richard Stannard 32nd, Stu Hayes 38th and Paul Amey 50th.

Oct-20: Did we miss something...

Just spotted a piece on the excellent xtri website that strongly suggests that Simon Lessing is going to have a crack at Hawaii in 2004. The interview, just after his win last weekend at Pacific Grove, still has him up for the Olympics (assuming the obvious...) but it looks as though his sponsorship deals will make Hawaii a lucrative place to be if he can get there. Simon's had three outings at Nice (the interviewer kindly forgot the one where he punctured and couldn't get the tub off...) so he's no stranger to long course but, as Spencer found this year, you still gotta qualify to get there! Now, that would be an interesting battle; Spence and Simon at the Big One.

Update on swim for Terri

Rob Mather emailed to say that the Swim For Terri website has just gone live. There are now over 70 countries with swims but he's more interested in people filling in some of the blanks. If anyone out there is interested take a look at the 'countries without swims' page and see if there's a gap you can help fill.

Oct-19: Brits abroad

Well Hawaii came and Hawaii went but it wasn't quite the same without Spencer. Richard Jones seems to have been the highest placed Brit in 79th but there's something badly wrong with the current online results as they list a lot of people as British who obviously aren't...

In Madeira Jodie Swallow placed 5th with Jess Harrison 10th, Catriona Morrison 15th and Julie Dibens 22nd. Anneliese Heard and Michelle Dillon were DNFs. Stu Hayes was 14th, Paul Amey 18th, Richard Allen 19th while David Haines was a DNF. Full results on the ITU website.

Oct-13: AJ returns to form

After a couple of disappointments in recent races; crashing at Nice and a DNF at Madrid, Andrew Johns travelled to Japan at the weekend looking to keep his current #2 world ranking. After delays due to weather AJ was in the lead group on the bike and took the lead for the first 5k of the run before dropping back into 3rd spot. Next outing will be the all-important Athens test event, he's skipping Funchal because he's shooting some material for New Balance in Japan. Full details on the ITU website.

Oct-08: Remember, it might just save your life

As a past race organiser, BTA referee and occasional helper at Human Race events it never ceases to amaze me that athletes will wear a helmet during an event and won't wear it before or after while cycling to and from their car loaded with kit. The amount of differing reasons you get when asking them why they do this is incredible but, if you are one of those people who remains unconvinced that cycle helmets really are worth the bother, perhaps reading this story from the Blackwater Tri Club might change your mind...

Oct-06: French Squeeze

Team Squeeze made it a weekend in Calais with 9 members competing at the French Grand Prix Duathlon on Sunday. One member did the 3km/15km/1.5km event while the rest took part in the 6km/35km/3km. There were no spectacular results (too many pro's racing for to make an impact) but everyone had a fantastic weekend despite the rigours enforced by a previous evening of over-indulgence at a local restaurant followed by flaming B52's. This sort of weekend will be repeated and anyone wanting to join us is most welcome. More info at www.teamsqueeze.com

Sep-30: Changes to drugs lists

In a major shake-up in what is permitted and what is not, WADA (the World Anti-Doping Agency) have announced that from 1 January 2004, caffeine and pseudo-ephedrine will no longer appear on the list of prohibited substances for international sport. The widely-anticipated move was confirmed this week at the end of its Executive Committee meeting.

The aim is to ensure that sportsmen and women who take over-the-counter cold cures, or drink cola or coffee, cannot be banned through inadvertent use of the substances which are both classified as mild stimulants. In the most well-known case involving pseudo-ephedrine, Romanian gymnast Andreea Raducan, winner of the combined exercises at the 2000 Olympics, was stripped of her medal after taking a cold cure containing the drug which was given to her by a team doctor.

As well as these two removals there are new additions as well so it's well worth checking out the list just in case!

For more information see the UK Sport website or the WADA website.

Sep-29: BBC Challenge series

In what appears to be an interesting variant on the theme of "are you tough enough", the BBC have launched a new reality TV series. Called The Challenge, it is intended to appeal to the sort of person who sits in front of the TV watching, say, someone trekking to the North Pole or doing the Paris-Dacca rally and says "I bet I could do that".

The Beeb is looking for fit people, like triathletes, to take on a diverse range of challenges in adventure or endurance sports. If you're interested contact the Assistant Producer, Julie Soper, at The Challenge, Room 4454, BBC Whitecity, 201 Wood Lane, London W12 7TS phone 020 8752 4824 or email [email protected] Don't forget to include daytime telephone numbers and you must be over 18 to apply.

Sep-23: Mouncey makes it to the Arc

There's very little news out there about this but a report on Amy White's Triathlon Informer via Steve Trew confirms that Andy Mouncey has completed the epic Arch to Arc triathlon. Andy is now one of only two athletes to finish this triathlon, the first being Edgar Ette. Steve Trew reports that Andy did the 87 mile run in 18:30, the Channel swim in 12:38, and the 180 mile bike ride in 14:17. While these are the fastest splits the total elapsed time of 115 hours, 8 minutes was outside Ette's 80 hours, 5 minutes because of a 59-hour layover in Dover while waiting for the weather to clear for the Channel crossing. There will be more on the Enduroman website and Andy's Coachco website.

Calling older GB athletes

Andrew Widgery, the National Team manager between 1986-1991 is keen to re-establish connections with any of the national Team from that period. If you fit the description you can reach him via email at awidgeryorange.net.

Sep-21: Brits abroad

In the ITU Madrid World Cup womens race Jodie Swallow has taken 5th place, 24 seconds behind the winner, Vanessa Fernandes (POR). Jess Harrison was 14th, Steph Forrester DNFd. Looks like there was a big pack after the bike, 19 people within seconds after T2, so the race, as usual, was decided on the run. In the mens race Richard Stannard was the best placed Brit in 12th with Richard Allen 19th. It's not clear from the ITU website that Andrew Johns even started, there are no splits for him either after the swim or T1, but did actually race and dropped out somewhere between lap 2 and lap 3 on the run after being up with the leaders. Paul Amey was also a DNF.

Catriona Morrison finished second in the Zagreb ITU International Triathlon held in Zagreb.

Sep-20: Andy Mouncey on his way

Andy is somewhere between Marble Arch and the Arc d'Triomphe but reports seem to have stopped as of Thursday night and it's not clear whether he's made it across the Channel yet. If he succeeds he'll join Eddie Ette as one of only two people to have done the 'event' on a solo basis. Some info on Andy's website, the BTA have also been covering the story.

Tri Cyclo-Cross

The Eastern Area Cyclo Cross league is holding a special race aimed at triathletes on 12 October 2003 at Nowton Park, Bury St Edmunds. The tiathletes race will take place at 2pm, immediately after the senior race. The course and distance will be tailored to suit novices, mountain bikes are welcome. The race is sponsored by 53-12, entry is on the day and is free.

Cyclo cross is a great way to keep fit during the winter, and this introductory event is a great way to get started. Phone Chris Gooch on 01473 311955 for more details or see their website.

Sep-16: Brits abroad (updated)

Steph Forrester continued her return to international racing with a second place at the ITU International in Estoril, Portugal with Catriona Morrison taking the third podium slot.

In the Nice Long Course event Beth Thomson placed second with Sarah Gross 7th. Results, including age groupers, are on the ITU website.

At Pacific Grove in California Simon Lessing continued his return to prominence with a clear win.

At the Powerman World Championships in Zofingen Beth Comerford placed third, just two minutes down on the winner Fiona Docherty (NZL). Results are on the Datasport website.

Sep-12: AJ sidelined at Nice

Despite starting as a definite favourite for Nice AJ was sidelined during the bike after being knocked off by a spectator and crashing. Indeed the whole GB mens team seems to have been dogged with problems as Paul Amey withdrew early on the bike, Richard Allen rode with a broken set of bars and the best result was Tim Don in 9th. Marc Jenkins finished 13th, Richard Allen 15th, Richard Stannard 22nd, Stuart Hayes 30th and Andrew Fargus 33rd.

For the women the best performance was from Jodie Swallow in 7th with Jess Harrison 12th Leanda Cave was 25th and Julie Dibens 33rd.

Full results and race report are on the ITU website. Sunday sees the long course event over the classic 4k 120k 30k combo.

Sep-09: What distance did you do?

Over the past couple of weeks we've had the World Duathlon Championships and the Gatorade Half Ironman at Sherborne. Apart from the fact that both had weather (rain for one, early morning fog for the other) and hills aplenty they also suffered from inaccurate courses. Dan Empfield's Slowtwitch website carries a telling article about course measurement that makes interesting reading -- for athletes as well as organisers.

Swim coach wanted

Chester Tri Club is seeking a swim coach to lead coaching for all club swim sessions, with support from club coaches. This will include developing an overall structured yearly plan for pool and open water swimming, to help the club continue to develop at all levels. Anyone interested can phone Andy White on 01244 682490 or email chestertrichestertri.org.uk.

Sep-07: AJ wins again, Heard returns to form

Andrew Johns is on a bit of a roll with his win today in Hamburg. Other Brits in the field included Marc Jenkins (17), Tim Don (18) and Stu Hayes (45). Yesterday saw the women race with Michelle Dillon leading the GB field in 5th, Steph Forrester (6), Jess Harrison (23) and Julie Dibens (DNF). Congratulations also to the GB squad who raced in Lausanne with Anneliese Heard taking the honours for the women. Full results on the ITU website.

Also racing at the weekend was Simon Lessing who took second at the Los Angeles Triathlon.

Thanks for the support

Once again a brilliant race at the SE Regional Relays with a whole host of familiar faces racing and supporting. Special thanks to the A2 crew for doing such a great job year after year and to all those kind people who didn't laugh too much as your webmaster and his long suffering wife did their stuff as part of Spelthorne's team 'Norfolk 'n' Chance'... Why can't all events be organised like that? Results are on their website.

Sep-05: Midweek series finale

The results are on their website for the last race of the Team Outrageous Midweek series. Mike Russell reports:

What a finale to the series with Ben Rankilor (East London Tri) and Alistair Brown (Tri London) neck and neck. Before the race, for Alistair to win, he had to break Phil Anthony's course record of 56.15 and beat Ben in the process. For Ben to win, he had to beat Alistair. The race lived up to expectations, with both of them devastating the rest of the field by almost 3 minutes. Out of the swim first was Ali in 7.06, followed by Phil Westoby, Jamie Beecham then Ben in 7.41. The bike was just as close, with Ben coming in first with a 2 second gap. The run started (and finished) at a blistering pace, with Ben breaking the course record by 12 seconds and Ali missing it by 1 second. The very credible Phil Westoby came in at 59.08, which is still an incredible time, but unfortunately chose the wrong day to race two of the South East's finest. Special credit to Alistair, who on the previous Sunday had done the half Ironman at Sherbourne.

The woman's race was one of the closest yet, with Gaelle Lebray of Tri London reversing the last result by beating Ailbhe Healey by 54 seconds and winning her first race of the season. Unfortunately for Gaelle, she had only done two series races, so the title went to Ailbhe. Greenwich Tritons' Lori Penner came home third, 48 seconds behind Ailbhe.

Finally, that stalwart of triathlon Vernon Thomas of Greenwich Tritons came home first Supervet, still finishing in the top half of the results.

Aug-31: Updates from the big weekend

We have a winner for the Half Ironman at Sherborne: Bjorn Andersson (SWE) in 3:51:35 with Richard Allen in 2nd and Andy Blow 3rd. And for the women Lisbeth Kristensen has come home clear to win in 4:20:50 with Gabriella Loskotova in 2nd and Nicole Best 3rd.

Spencer? Well he double punctured at 35 miles on the bike, couldn't get a spare long valve tube and eventually borrowed the front wheel off the 'other' Richard Allen's crashed bike and drifted home with the age groupers.

The race began with a 90 minute delay for early morning fog - you really couldn't see the length of transition at one point, let alone the start buoys so athlete safety comes well before a prompt start. Click here for a pic of the swim... Overall the course seems to have been tough, but not too tough, and the organisation was leaps ahead of the previous years in Llanberis -- much credit to Ron Thorne, Chris and Ali Boon and the local volunteers for managing the transition from Wales to rural Dorset so well. It will be very interesting to hear what the WTC have to say about the event going full distance, they had representation there keeping track on all the goings on.

Results and stories on the race website

Lessing wins Boston

Simon Lessing returned to Boston for the Monster Triathlon and once again walked with the honours. Full details on the ITU website.

Results from the World Duathlon

The first GB medals are in the bag: Silver for Ollie Freeman and Bronze for Will Clark.Vicky Pincombe picked up Bronze in the women's elite but Benny vanSteelant was back on form and Tim Don seems to have dropped out after the first run.

Elite men: Mike Trees (19), Martin Yelling (30), Wayne Smith (44) and Nigel Leighton (47)
Elite women: Vicky Pincombe (3)
Junior men: Peter Croes (BEL), Oliver Freeman, Will Clarke. Stuart Brown (11), Paul Wright (28).
Junior women: Rosie Clark (13)
U23 men: Jamie Plumb (19)
U23 women: no GB finisher

Our age groupers bagged a total of 18 medals, the BTA website has a full list. You should find all the results on the ITU website or on the event website.

Aug-29: The big weekend

This weekend it's a case of split attention: Tim Don defends his World Duathlon crown in Affoltern, Switzerland while Spencer Smith goes head to head with Richard Allen at Half Ironman UN in Dorset. Follow the news as it unfolds on the ITU website and the HIMUK website (Interesting that HIMUK doesn't make the front page of the WTC website...).

Aug-27: Bala accommodation

Triathletes seeking accommodation for Bala September 2003 can visit www.cyffdy.com for self-catering cottages minutes from the Lake. They can also be contacted on 01678 540443.

Aug-25: Swiss miss for AJ

After a couple of good podium finishes in recent ITU World Cup events Andrew Johns missed out with a 4th place in Geneva. He was the only British male finisher; Richard Allen, Daniel Beynon, Ed Dyer, Andrew Fargus and Richard Macnamee all DNFed. For the ladies, Tanja Allen took 8th with Catriona Morrison DNF. Full results on the ITU website.

Aug-22: Derby Triathlon full

The 12th Derby Triathlon is now full with 600+ entrants already confirmed entries for the 14th September. There are still places available for the Carsington short course duathlon on October 5th (same course as Powerman). The distances are 5k/30k/5k, full details and an entry form can be downloaded from the Punishing Events website.

Aug-21: Age Group Aquathlon

The Llanelli Aquathlon on August 31st is hosting the innaugural British Age Group Aquathlon Championships. The event consist of a 750m open water swim in the safe haven of the newly re-vamped North Dock followed by a 5Km run along the scenic sustrans cycle path. Entries will be accepted on the day and further information can be obtained from the club's website.

Aug-19: Swim the World

Every so often someone comes up with an idea that is so simple and so good that you just have to be part of it. You know what I mean; the hula hoop, Rubiks's Cube, Live Aid... This time, what began as one man's personal reaction to an emotive piece of television is rapidly turning into a worldwide event - and all without any media coverage, hype or similar promotion.

Robert Mather, who none of you will have heard of, watched the ITV documentary on Terri Calvesbert -- the little East Anglian girl who suffered 85% burns in a house fire, survived and will need many years of reconstructive surgery and therapy. As a result he decided to get together with a group of mates and, collectively, swim a distance of 35k (which approximates to swimming the Channel and, yes, we know that you always go further when you swim the real thing...). A bit of sponsorship, a bit of money for a worthy cause...

Good ideas tend to spread and, as a direct result of people talking to people, in just 16 days that single swim has now spawned similar events in 52 countries! And that's where we hope that you come in. What we are looking for is triathletes in the odder, more remote places of the world - and we know that you're out there because we study the log files - to think about joining in and, on December 6th (which is the appointed day), having your own little swim to raise a bit of money for the cause. Of course, if you're in a mainstream place and want to join in as well that's just great too!

If the idea takes off - and judging by the reaction so far, it already has - perhaps next year there might be a million people swimming for some major worldwide cause or other. As Rob says "It's completely ridiculous to think that next year we could get a million people, all swimming on the same day to raise money for one common cause..." No, it's not ridiculous or, if it is, it's so ridiculously, utterly do-able. Rob again: "Given most swimmers would be in western countries, it's not inconceivable to think we could get an average of £100 raised per person... which would mean...". Which would mean it could/would be the single largest fundraising effort on the planet. Ever! If you want more information please , he'll email all the details to you, for details about Terri see the Evening Star website.

Aug-17: Aquathlon date change

Anyone entered or wishing to enter race 4 in the Team Outrageous Aquathlon series, the race has been moved to September 21st. The organisers apologies for the inconvenience and anyone entered who cannot make it will have their entry fee refunded. See their website.

Aug-15: Spaces at Clumber Park

Iain Hamilton has asked up to spread the word that there are still spaces at Clumber Park nex weekend (the third in the 220 series). Information is on the event website.

Outrageous results

The results for midweek race 5 are now up on www.teamoutrageous.com. Also, entry details for the last race in the series are on the news page. This is important for anyone wishing to enter. Entries close August 29th latest. No entries on the day or by email.

Aug-12: Deal lads return

You may remember last year that a group of guys from Deal Tri did a Channel Relay swim and had to abandon just 3k from the French coast. This year the team, with a couple of changes, is back to right the record (hopefully). They were due to swim on Monday but at the last moment heard that the threat of thunderstorms coming up the Channel made it unsafe. However, we gather that they are in the water today and well en-route. Water is a balmy 18 degree C and it is, of course, a non-wetsuit swim - and for poor old Richard HORTON it is a non-duathlon-short swim too as only traditional swimming briefs are permitted by the Channel Swimming Association.

The team comprises: Alan DOYLE, Paul GROVES, Clare HANSELL, Richard HORTON, Jo SALTER, Carrie SCOTT with Tony DOYLE as reserve. Coach once again (1993, 1997, 1998, 2000) is Charlie LAWS, ex Royal Marine Corps Champion.

Aug-10: Rowers Revenge is full

The Rowers' Revenge Tri on 5th October is now full, see their website. This also means that no more entries can be accepted for the Concept2 Rowathlon series which starts next weekend at Castle Coombe race circuit.

Don takes silver in NYC

Tim Don went one better than Michelle Dillon (bronze) with a silver at the New York ITU Word Cup today. Also featured in the top 10 was Jodie Swallow at 7th. Interestingly on the ITU website Tim is not shown in the pictured group of 'favourites' -- but then they always seem to have regarded his win last year as an anomoly.

Aug-09: New York a duathlon?

There's nothing on the ITU website as yet -- but we have heard via a GB elite athlete that this weekend's New York ITU World Cup has been switched to a duathlon, heavy rain has apparently swollen the Hudson and raised bacteria levels, with the action now all taking place in Central Park. There's a detailed story on the Inside Triathlon website.

AJ update

After his win in Manchester and his third at Tiszaujvaros, AJ has popped into the top three ranked triathletes in the world. Big up to the man!

Aug-03: AJ medals again

A week after his win at Salford AJ took the podium again in Tiszaujvaros - this time it was a bronze rather than a gold but still an excellent result. Full story and results on the ITU website.

Tales from London

So, you're a complete triathlon virgin and you're sitting down to breakfast in your hotel. Opposite you is a nice enough guy, obviously a triathlete (shaved legs is a dead giveaway...) So, in an attempt to start aconversation, you ask "What time are you hoping to do?" "Time," replies the elite athlete, "I'm hoping to win it..." Now, was it Richard Allen? -- we don't know...

And, on another London topic, Sam Renouf would like to say thanks to the guys at Orca (Deano and Andy) for sorting out a new Predator suit for him after he managed to rip his getting ready for the junior elite race. Good job they had some stock given the rate they've been selling these past few months...

More race stories on the London Triathlon website.

Jul-30: Can you help these two?

Believe it or not, people doing the London Triathlon on Saturday and Sunday still haven't sorted out bikes yet... We've been contacted by a couple desperate to hire a pair of bikes; Lisa is 5ft2 and her partner Nick is 5ft10. If anyone can help please email them at LFrearsoneuromoneytraining.com

Jul-29: England's Richest Aquathlon?

Deal Tri stage their annual Dover Open Water Aquathlon on 17th August. The race is based in and around the natural arena of Dover Harbour and forms part of Dover's Regatta Celebrations. The senior race is a 750 metre mass start sea swim followed by a flat and fast 5 km run taking in the immaculate Dover Promenade and Prince of Wales Pier. A novice and youth race takes place simultaneously over a 200 metre sea swim and 2.5km run. Full safety support will be provided by Dover Watersports Centre. (What, no floating pontoons then?)

Deal Tri have received backing from Dover Town Council that has enabled them to offer a total purse of £400 in cash prizes that will be distributed amongst the age group winners. Cost of entry is just £10 for the senior race (BTA members), £8 for novices (BTA members). Day membership licence is £2.00. Email Paul Harris on eventsdealtri.ndo.co.uk for an entry form, or further details.

Jul-28: Salford ITU World Cup

A year after the Commonwealth Games Salford Quays came alive again to a major triathlon event. This time we had age groupers racing for 2004 qualification, a full citizens race plus sprint and relay events to go with the ITU World Cup. For the ladies, Jodie Swallow headed up with 4th place followed by Jess Harrison and Andrea Whitcombe and Michelle Dillon taking 9th to make four in the top ten. In the mens race an early lead by Stuart Hayes and Seth Wealing (USA) was soon eaten up and Andrew Johns stormed the field on the last lap to win over Craig Watson (NZL) and Martin Krnavek (CZE). Tim Don took 4th, Richard Stannard 8th and Stu Hayes 9th. For reports and full results see the ITU website. Age group results will be going up on the Salford website tonight.

Oh, and who was too heavy for the pontoon at the 8am start? Quite a spectacle as the SS Titanic lurched off down the dock with your webmaster on board trying to start 300 age groupers on time... (Many thanks to Nigel Farrow for the picture!)

Jul-22: Weekend roundup

Furious action in the UK with Longest Day, Pembrokeshire and Waterlooville (among others) and leading up to next weekend's positive cornucopia with Salford and Milton Keynes. Overseas we had the GB boys winning in the European Youth Relay Championships at Gyor while Simon Lessing seemed to have learned the lesson of Edmonton (don't trash those legs on the bike...) and cheerfully swept past the field to win at Pacific Coast. In the ITU World Cup at Corner Brook Marc Jenkins finished up 12th - back to back World Cups possibly taking their toll.

Jul-17: Some words well worth reading

Dan Empfield is a man with more history in this sport than most -- Quintana Roo, his original company, introduced many of the things we take for granted in the sport these days. Dan runs an excellent website called Slowtwitch and his editorials are often well worth taking time to re-read, let alone read in the first place. This week it's all about rules and, before you make the judgement that American triathlon rules are nothing to do with us, I strongly recommend that anyone seriously involved in the sport takes a few minutes to study what he says. There are some very strong parallels with what's happening in the UK and there may be some lessons to be learned.

Jul-15: More Brits abroad

Not quite an ITU Points Series race but Brits were to the fore last weekend (6th July) in the sunshine triathlon paradise that is Bermuda. John Levison reports:

Clearly deciding that 100 degrees and high humidity was not enough of a challenge, we (John Levison and Colette O'Neill) threw in a 7 hour flight, 4 hour time difference and barely 12 hours between landing and race start. Truth be told, we didn't even know there was a race until we bumped into a Bermudan triathlete at Gatwick...!

Nonetheless, Clearwater Bay looked inviting, the Shell Gold Cup Triathlon was about to start and we were registered (and tired, and hot...). A wise move?

The sea was like a bath (non-wetsuit!), crystal clear and apparently we were 17th (Colette) and 21st (John) out of the water (thanks to Steve Trew for counting!) after the 750m swim. Onto the 4-lap, 20km bike leg and I managed to take a wrong turn (doh!), while Colette set about chasing down the girls in front. Back into the race (and feeling like I was moving further backwards) I could see that Colette (ahead) was making up ground, though still I estimated around 2 minutes down at the start of the 5km run.

The run felt like it was taking place in an oven! 4-laps, and each one felt like the temperature was being turned up. I had no idea what position I was in, but wondered how Colette was doing. Just starting my final lap I found out as I heard the announcer call "...and here is today's overall female winner, just arrived from England, Colette O'Neill...". I guess around 5 mins later I staggered home too, and was soon headed straight back to the ocean in an attempt to cool down.... Somehow, I still won my age group! A nice start to a great week.

Hillingdon update

The new website for Hillingdon Tristars has now been launched at www.hillingdontristars.co.uk. The site includes race results from the Harefield Triathlon/Duathlon Series which the club runs (race 3 results will be added in the next 24 hours), along with details of the Monday night Duathlons held at Minet Park, Hayes. The next race is on 21st July.

Jul-14: Brits abroad

A busy weekend abroad: Andrew Johns picked up second at Echternach with Richard Stannard taking third. Jodie Swallow did better with a win in the womens race while Anneliese Heard placed 6th. Full results on the ITU website.

At the European Under 23 race Catherine Hare took bronze with Karen Sindall 6th, Catriona Morrison 9th and Helen Tucker 10th. For the boys Oliver Howton was 38th and Ewan Mulhern 41st.

Lots of Brits also raced at Ironman Germany but the results seem a little slow in coming...

Jul-10: Late entries for Welsh Childrens Duathlon

The Carmarthenshire Gold Coast Children's Duathlon which is being held this Sunday will be accepting race entries on the day from 8:30am to 10:30am. Entry is £5.00 for BTA/WTA members or £6.00 and the children will each receive a T-shirt, drinks bottle sponsored by The Word mobile phones, goody bag and a finishers medal. The race is also the Welsh Junior Duathlon Championships. For further details phone Noelwyn on 07880504292 or visit the club's website at www.llanellitriathlon.org.uk.

Jul-08: New club for London

Team Squeeze has been formed in London covering East and South East London and the City. Based in the Surrey Quays, they describe themselves as 'the club for the valiant amateur'. Check out their philosophy and training schedules on their website.

Jul-07: Desperate for a London slot?

As always at this time of the year we get a list of charity slots still available for London. Here's the latest plea for help. A small South African charity called Starfish (they raise money for children in South Africa orphaned and affected by HIV/AIDS have a number of places available that can be used for invididual or team entries. They are desperate not to waste these places and ask merely that people cover their costs (£200) as time is now very short. If you can help or know of people who still want entries, please get in touch.

Jul-05: Brits place well in Holland

At the Holten International ITU race in Holland Julie Dibens claimed her second successive Dutch victory, with Jodie Swallow taking second and Anneliese Heard slipping out of third spot to fourth on the last run lap. For the men Richard Allen finished second to Dimitri Gaag while Stuart Hayes picked up sixth place. A host of other GB performance squad athletes also took part in the race for ITU points. Complete results are on the ITU website.

Jun-29: Spencer Smith drops out of Ironman Idaho, Draskau gets 5th

Second out of the water, led the bike the whole way and had a 5 minute buffer at one point but 4 miles into the run he's walking and it looks like he may have dropped out. Catch the details on the IronmanLive website.

While Spencer may had gone there's still GB interest left in the race. This is direct from the live commentary:

Fifth overall in the women ... Jess Draskau. She's from Hull, Great Britain, and she has managed a fifth place finish at an Ironman! Her time was 10:27:53, and her 3:28 marathon got her passed Jeanne Anne Krizman, who finished sixth in 10:36.

Why do Americans get so surprised that Brits can do well at long distance? Not so long ago Bella Comerford won at Florida...

Jun-26: Room at Leybourne Lakes

Team Outrageous have plenty of space for their Olympic race at Leybourne Lakes on July 13th - a good 'trial' before the London. They are also offering conducted tours of the bike course this weekend. Details from www.teamoutrageous.com or Mike Russell on 01892 730934.

SouthWest Series

The rolling results for the SW Series and the results for the SW Sprint Championships are on the regional website

Jun-25: More medals at Alpharetta

For some reason this update never made it to the website on Sunday... At the Dannon Duathlon at Alpharetta in the US on Sunday Vicky Pincombe saw off the rest of the elite female field with another outstanding win while Annie Emmerson put recent injuries behind her and took third place. In a conversation with Annie earlier this year she said that she was going to try for the World Championships later this year and, so long as the injuries don't re-appear, it looks like she's made an early mark in that particular campaign. Mike Trees placed fourth in the mens race while Martin Yelling was a DNF. Results in full on the ITU website.

Jun-22: Age groupers triumph at Carlsbad

The GB age groupers certainly delivered at Carlsbad today! These are just the highlights, we'll try to get a full listing later

.

20-24: Carl Phillips, Gold; Helen Wilcox, Gold; Georgia Wood, Silver. 25-29: Caroline Jones, Gold; 30-34: Tom Hincliffe, Bronze. 35-39: Jo Riley, Bronze. 40-44: Debbie Evers, Gold. 45-49: Leyshon Williams, Gold; Lynda Chase, Silver; Liz Clegg, Bronze. 50-54: Elaine Scott, Gold; Liz Parsons, Silver. 55-59: Alan Spelling, Silver; Lesley Cliff, Gold; Georgina Gardner, Silver. 60-64: Erica Enisz, Gold; Peggy Crome, Silver.

In an update to yesterday's elite race we note that Tim Don got the fastest run split which indicates that our request for a copy of the Carlsbad tape from 2001 obviously did help him prepare for the event! Sadly he appears to have missed the lead pack and so never quite made up the ground.

Jun-21: Disappointment at Carlsbad

With the strength of the GB squad going to Carlsbad it was something of a disappointment that the only medal gained was a Bronze for Oliver Freeman in the Junior men. Ivan Rana reprised his performance of last year with Paul Amey the best Brit in 6th. Richard Allen was 9th, Richard Stannard 12th, Tim Don 17th and Marc Jenkins 26th. For the women Andrea Whitcomebe missed the podium with 4th, Julie Dibens was 5th with Tanja Allen 8th, Jess Harrison 10th and Leanda Cave 17th.

In the Junior races Oliver Freeman took Bronze, Will Clarke 7th, Joseph Rafferty 16th and Stuart Brown 20th while Helen Tucker took 13th and Rosie Clarke 20th for the girls.

Full reports and results on the ETU website.

Jun-20: Hereford Triathlon is full

The organisers have asked to let you all know that the Hereford Triathlon on July 6th is full.

Jun-19: Euro champs NOT live on Eurosport

Complications with the rights combined with a very full schedule of live sporting events this coming weekend has meant that Eurosport are unable to show the European Championships this weekend. We don't yet have a date for when it might be shown in the future either...

Farewell to Bethan

So long, farewell, auf Weidersehen, goodbye... After four and half years as membership secretary for the BTA Bethan is leaving on June 27th to take up employment with SAGA Holidays in Folkestone. She's moving lock, stock and bike 'down south'. Kingsdown, to be precise, so expect to see her on the roster at Deal Tri soon!

She sent the following message: "To all members, event organisers, etc that I've come into contact with, I apologise if I got things wrong, when I did - thank you for your patience. To those of you who made me laugh or smile during my day, you know who you are, I owe you one."

Swarkestone has spaces

With Milton Keynes now full and Salford also expecting a full field why not try the Orca Swarkestone Triathlon on the same date and the same distance. The venue is in South Derbyshire, 1 mile from J3 of the A50 and about 7 miles from J24 of the M1. The race will comprise of a 1.5k lake swim, a 40k bike (a mixture of fast, flat dual carriageway and undulating countryside) and finally a tough out and back 10k Run. Entry fee is £32 BTA or £35 for non BTA. For further details visit the Punishing Events website (organisers of Powerman UK and the Derby Triathlon) or contact James Cresswell on 01332 513299.

Jun-16: So, who followed who...

Yesterday's Gatorade Royal Windsor Triathlon was the biggest yet - well over 1,800 people registered on the Saturday - and it was also the 13th... Not sure if that was an omen, we don't think the HR crew are superstitious, but the race will probably long be remembered for the elite mens inability to remember just how long a 1,500 metre swim is supposed to be.

The plan was that the elite women would go 4 minutes ahead of the men - a woman would definitely exit the water first - and then the men and women would, effectively, combine for the draft-legal bike section so giving the women a faster bike leg and everyone a more exciting race. Unfortunately the lead elite man decided to turn at the sprint distance buoy... Worse, all the rest of the pack (bar three) decided to follow him... Odd, since almost all of them are regular Windsor competitors and, when asked afterwards, several admitted that they knew that the lead had gone wrong! An obvious comment might be "Baaaa!".

So, the lead men came out well ahead of the women and thundered off into the Berkshire lanes while the women soldiered on oblivious. Three men at the back of the bunch got the message and swam the full distance which, if the rules were going to be interpreted decently meant that they were, effectively, the only people in the race as all the guys who cut the course were now on for a DQ. (Had they ALL swum a short course then, as at London a few years back when the women ran in off the swim through the run out and chopped 200m off the course, then the infraction would probably have been ignored as everyone would have done the same course).

As if that stupidity wasn't enough or, perhaps just to show that women can sometimes be as stupid as men, three of the leading female athletes apparently saw another female cycling back down the course having punctured and abandoned and decided that they must have gone wrong and so cycled a completely different course to everyone else...

Of course the real winners on the day were the three lonely men who, despite being totally outclassed by the rest of the field, happily soldiered on to what may well be the biggest payday of their careers!

The moral of the tale must be that it's up to you to make the decisions while racing and not to blindly follow assuming that the person in front knows what's going on. Read the instructions (most people don't, judging by the hundreds of basic questions we get asked at events), study the maps and, if possible, drive or cycle the course beforehand. Organisers do their very best to make everything clear but sometimes marshals go for a comfort break or vandals pull down signs or, worse, someone else sticks theirs up - in a race at Theale once we had race signs, car boot signs and a time trial as well...

Jun-12: Milton Keynes is full

The organisers of the Milton Keynes race, a BTA Grand Prix race and Worlds Qualifier on July 27th (same day as the Salford World Cup) have emailed to say that all 700 places are gone! More information on their website. As far as we know there is still plenty of space at Salford, which also has Worlds qualification status for the age group race. Check out their website for details.

Brits racing abroad

Two of our big guns were blazing overseas at the weekend: Simon Lessing pitched up at Escape from Alcatraz and won that while Spencer Smith dropped in on Carlsbad (the one in California...) as a final preparation for his Ironman Idaho challenge and ended up storming the run to take second.

Jun-10: York Triathlon cancelled

The York classic triathlon, York sprint triathlon and York duathlon due to be held on the weekend of 9th and 10th of August have unfortunately had to be cancelled. Due to circumstances beyond the organiser's control regarding the swim venue it is not possible to go ahead with these events. It would not be viable to just have the duathlon at the proposed venue and so a decision has been taken to cancel all the events for this year. The organisers are trying to sort out a possible new venue and hope to be able to include it in the 2004 calendar.

Jun-09: Places available at Epping

There are still places available for the Tri Sport Epping Try a Tri (www.trisportepping.co.uk). This beginner/novice only race is on June 22nd and the entry fee gets you a well organised race plus a well deserved breakfast afterwards.

Jun-08: Racing update

Well it didn't rain at Weymouth but it did blow quite hard! With a reduced field because of the vets age group championships and Worlds Qualifier at Shropshire it was good to see Russell Kober really stamp his mark on the men's field while an injury-free Ruth Hutton dominated the women. Results on the Concept Sport website.

Not sure what the weather was doing at Shropshire, sounds like it could have gone either way, but we hear that nearly all the 350 or so people hoing to qualify for New Zealand showed up! With a field in excess of 500 it looks like another successful day for Alan Penton. Results will be up on Stuart Mullage's website soon.

The other main feature of the day was Swansea and it's clear that £175,000 of money from the Welsh Assembly can buy you a lot of race. Unfortunately there were only around 160 age groupers doing the sprint distance and 50 or so elite doing the National Championships so we guess that works out to around £800 a head... For the men, Marc Jenkins flew the flag home for Wales with Tim Don in close pursuit and Richard Stannard taking third. For the women Michelle Dillon blew away hopes of a Welsh double leaving Leanda Cave with second and Jess Harrison third (hope that's correct as the BTA website hasn't listed her yet but that was the report we got). Full results can be found on the onrunning.com website.

Jun-07: First of the big weekends

So it's the National Age Group Championships at Shropshire for the Vets categories, the half distance race at Weymouth (we do hope the weather is better than last year...) and the Elite Championships at Swansea. Of the latter we feel that it has to be said that giving the race to an unproven, unused venue for the second year in succession is a very odd move on the part of the BTA. Also, given that this is a race with ETU and ITU standing and a not inconsiderable prize pool it's very odd that - as far as we can tell - not a single overseas athlete is going to be taking part. Getting triathlon onto television is an important part of spreading the word - last year's Commonwealths proved that beyond a doubt - but both Stockton and Swansea have turned out to really be elite-only events and, as any race organiser will tell you, that isn't the way to long term success. We'll await next week's TV coverage with interest - what odds on any age group coverage...

Jun-05: Spencer Smith on the BBC

Tune in to BBC News 24 over the next four days and you might catch Spencer Smith on Hard Talk being interviewed by Rob Bonnett. Transmission times should be: June 6th at 2130 GMT, June 7th at 1330 GMT, June 8th at 2330 GMT and June 9th at 0930 GMT. It will be shown again in the run-up to HIMUK in August.

Jun-04: Salford gets a good launch

The ITU World Cup race in Salford got great launch coverage in the region on Monday with all the radio networks and the regional BBC station taking the story. The Manchester Evening News also ran a piece (slightly over the top) and the only noticeable media absence from the event was any form of coverage or presence from the BTA. Presumably they are too concerned with this weekend's race at Swansea which doesn't seem to have set the world on fire -- despite offering ETU and ITU points there seem to be no elite athletes from anywhere other than the UK. In fact, according to the event website there are no elite athletes at all! Mind you, when you see what they dragged out of the river...

Salford have adopted Leanda Cave as their ambassador and Countryside Properties have taken on the title sponsorship. For details of the elite and age group waves at Salford see the official event website.

Jun-01: Brits abroad

In the third of the ITU's four races this weekend Simon Lessing came home a clear winner in Bellingham, USA with Chris Moffatt (aka the BTA webmaster) in 4th place.

At another ITU International race in Zundert Julie Dibens topped the podium while Richard Allen placed 3rd for the men with Andrew Fargus 10th and Kevin Clark 12th.

At the ITU International/ETU Super Prestige race in Brno on Saturday Catriona Morrison was the highest placed female Brit in 7th, both Gavin Noble and Alun Woordward dropped out on the run after strong swim and bike legs. Reports from the venue say it was very hot.

May-30: Edinburgh hosts summer triathlon

On Saturday 21 June the roads around Holyrood Park in the centre of Edinburgh will be transformed, as one of the largest triathlons in Scotland gets underway. The Edinburgh Triathlon is the first sprint distance of its kind to be held in the city during the summer. However with the recent changes in the law regarding charging for road closures this might well be the last opportunity Scottish Triathletes get to race on closed roads in the heart of their capital.

This year the roads around the park will be completely closed to traffic for the duration of the event between 9am and 1pm, making Arthur's Seat the perfect setting for such a mass participation sports event. Many people in Edinburgh will already be aware of the successful New Years Day Triathlon which has been run from the Commonwealth pool and in Holyrood Park for many years now, and this event will hopefully be just as popular despite racing over a slightly different course.

The 750m swim will be 15 lengths of the Royal Commonwealth pool using the unique "Continuous wave" format, which will see all 400 adult swimmers starting the event in the first 30 minutes. According to Stuart Young, the swim director on the day, this new swim format will remove the requirement for athletes to hang around waiting for their swim start. Hopefully this new swim structure will introduce the feeling of a mass start event to the pool-based triathlon therefore resembling an open water event in the safety of a swimming pool.

The Cycle will consist of two laps of a six-mile circuit inside the park and followed by a three mile run over a mixed terrain course in and around the Park and Duddingston Village.

BAE SYSTEMS and Scotland's new Triathlon Centre, which will be opened by The Bicycle Works in Edinburgh this summer, have sponsored the event. With their help the race organisers are able to keep the race entry down to a minimum and help ensure a quality day for everyone taking part. The organisers hope to raise over a thousand pounds for good causes, including Marie Curie and Muscular Dystrophy. Places for this event are still available and application forms or more information can be obtained by calling the Future Sport Helpline on 0131-529 7794 or checking out the website at www.edinburghracingcoop.co.uk.

May-26: Brits racing abroad

Jess Harrison placed first at the ETU cup race in Sable D'Olonne (she now races for a French team) with Scotland's Kevin Clark and Andrew Fargus finishing 19th and 22nd.

At the first European ITU race of the season in Praia de Vitoria Marc Jenkins continued his quiet run of form to finish 3rd with Richard Stannard 6th and Stuart Hayes 33rd. UPDATE: Stuart never even started the race, he wasn't there... We suspect some local used the slot! Anneliese Heard picked up 5th with Tanya Allen 7th. Full results and a report on the ITU website.

May-25: New Forest Tri changes swim

Due to a delay in getting the lake dam repaired (!), the Primera New Forest Tri on 22nd June has decided to use the outdoor pool instead for this event. The race organisers - Beacon Leisure, and venue - Avon Tyrrell Outdoor Centre, apologise to those hoping to have had an open water swim, fingers crossed for next year, and will of course refund any competitor wishing to withdraw. The pool is heated so wetsuits will not be permitted.

May-21: BTA sorts club insurance

The BTA has sorted out the first part of its insurance problems and will be mailing all clubs shortly with details of the new club insurance scheme. The premium for 2003/4 is £75.00 per club. Club Secretaries will receive notification (and details) in writing in the next few days and have four weeks to either forward the premium or opt out of the scheme if they can provide evidence of comparable cover.

BCT confirm sponsors for Longest Day

Black Country Triathletes have now confirmed two sponsors for the Longest Day's 10th Anniversary race - Orca and Up & Running. Drinks sponsors are SIS and 2 training holidays are up for grabs for the winners (M/F) from Active Holidays. See the BCT or Orca Longest Day websites for more details.

May-20: Dibens doubles up

Apparently unsatisfied by winning the first of the AquaPura Eton SuperSprints on Saturday Julie Dibens promptly turned up at the National 10 Mile Time Trials on Sunday and placed second - which is no mean achievement in itself. Highest placed male triathlete was Chris Ball in 4th. Full results are available here.

May-13: Zofingen gets green light

A press release from the International Powerman Association confirms today that Zofingen will be happening this year on the 13th/14th of September. Check the Zofingen website.

May-12: Spencer wins Gulf Coast

Spencer Smith returned to the home of his first Ironman win to do the half distance race at the weekend and, quite simply, stormed the field. Over 10 minutes up at T2 he was barely slowed by a dodgy tummy on the run and even the style police were pleased with his lime green trisuit! Mind you, it did clash just a bit with the pink Sigma bike... Full story and pictures on xtri.

May-11: Pincombe wins Powerman Geel

Thanks to Paul Groves for the update that Vicky Pincombe has continued her run of successes at Powerman with a win in today's race at Geel. Benny Vansteelant, predictably, won the mens!

News from Ibiza

Mixed fortunes for the GB elite in Ibiza with Bella Comerford missing out on the medals by a single place. For the men the best placed was Richard Jones in 27th - Ibiza was hot, unlike Llanberis! - with Simon Kennedy 27th, Russel Kober 43rd and Elliot Challifour 50th.

All the age group results can be seen here - we stormed the field with 5 Gold, 2 Silver and 4 Bronze including a clean sweep in the F45-49 category. Great result, congratulations to all, not forgetting Ian Pettitt and his crew.

National Aquathlon forms

Entry forms and race information for the British National Age Group Aquathlon Championships being held in Llanelli on August 31st are now available from the clubs website.

May-10: World Long Course weekend

This weekend sees the GB Age Groupers (and of course the Elite) in action at the ITU World Long Course Triathlon Championships. Rumours that this involves two transitions in Manumission are, of course, unfounded. Long Course athletes are, as we've reported here before, far too laid back for such nonsense!

Ian Pettitt and his support team are looking after 127 athletes who will set off on Sunday morning for the 4k swim, 120k bike and 30k run on the Balearic island of Ibiza. This is a very strong team that will no doubt be keen to improve on the 2002 haul of medals down in Nice.

We wish them all the very best and will no doubt hear from the Med as the day progresses but you can check out the ITU website for results during the day. The event also has its own website.

May-05: Brits racing abroad

Tanja Allen won the Volcano Triathlon in Lanzarote on Sunday with Paula Craig also winning the wheelchair section. Richard Hobson placed 11th in a strong mens field. Full results here, thanks to the folk at Science in Sport for these!

Despite a rumour to the contrary, Tim Don doesn't seem to have raced at Clermont yesterday... However, Andrea Whitcombe did and placed second (listed in the ITU results as being Canadian!) with Jess Harrison 6th. Richard Allen was 18th in the mens race. Full race story and results on the ITU website.

Julie Dibens placed 4th at the St Croix half ironman distance race on Sunday in 4:55:02. Race report and results on their website.

A whole host of GB age groupers including Mark Cathcart were set to do one or other of the races at Wildflower Festival. (Simon Lessing was apparently a no-show for the elite half ironman race). Check out their results on the race website.

May-02: Powerman Zofingen not dead yet...

It's clear that, despite not having a headline sponsor, Zofingen isn't prepared to lie down and die just yet. This week they formed a new organising committee and invited a group of top duathletes to participate in the event's future development. Included in that panel are Vicky Pincombe and Wayne Smith which is a very encouraging sign for British duathlon as a whole. More details on the Zofingen website.

Apr-29: Open water training day for young triathletes

The South West Region is running an open water training day for young people at the South Cerney Outdoor Education Centre in Gloucestershire on Saturday June 7th. This superb location offers a safe lake environment in which to practice the techniques and skills required to give you more confidence in open water. Qualified BTA coaches will take the sessions, and there will be constant cover by lifeguards, safety boats and first aiders. The day will comprise of two swim sessions, video analysis, discussion in the classroom, and a short Aquathlon (swim/run) to round off the day. There will also be a BBQ.

Cost of the day will be £20, which will include facilities, coaching, and BBQ. Wetsuits are available to hire at £4 for the day. For more information or an application form, please contact: Roger Harle on 01454 778517, mobile 07788 798066, email , or Janet Whiting BTA RDSO on 07773 798441, email Early application is advised, as the number of places is limited.

Apr-27: Pincombe wins at Powerman Venray

In a week rife with rumours that Powerman Zofingen may not be happening this year (no confirmation as yet...) it looks as though the winners of the recent PowermanUK are on a bit of a roll. At Venray today Vicky Pincombe and Benny Vansteelant (BEL) both repeated their form and dominated their event.

Apr-26: Don wins at St Anthonys

Looks like Tim Don scored a nice win with an 11 second buffer gained entirely on the run at St Anthony's today keeping Polikarpenko and Greg Bennett off the top of the podium. Simon Lessing placed 7th and we know Richard Allen was in there on the bike and finished 44th. Andrew Johns DNFed after the bike and Paul Amey blew after the swim. Andrea Whitcombe was 13th female, Julie Dibens 16th and Jess Harrison 48th. Full results are now up on the ITU website.

Apr-25: Bala shortens swim

The swim at Bala Middle Distance (BTA Long Distance Championships) on the 1st June 2003 has been reduced to 2000m following investigations into water temperatures.

Handbook arrives, where's the beef?

Looks like we were spot on the money with the late arrival of the BTA Handbook - although it didn't even make the Easter weekend... Mind you, having opened and read it it looks as though it might be the final printed copy you'll ever see. Why? Well, thumbing through my collection from the past decade (sad, moi?) I note that there's no UEF, no contact addresses are provided for either clubs or races, there's no mention of who the Executive Board members are or, come to that, a list of referees or sanctioning officers.

Oh, and if you were interested in entering the National Duathlon Ranking Series and were waiting for the Handbook to find out what events were part of the series - you're too late!

Now, I know that the BTA does have a significantly improved website but not everyone has Internet access and many of those that do use work systems so in the evenings and at weekends there's a potential lack of reference material. Well, actually, there's no reference material AT ALL! There's no rulebook - and from recent past membership of the Rules and Technical Committee (yes, I know...) I do know that there were corrections required to the 2002 rulebook and proposed changes for 2003 that will not now see the light of day until 2004 at the earliest. Yes, I know that the Rules are on the website but that's no use when you're competing or officiating and need a quick reference in the middle of some Internet free zone like a transition area... Last year they dished the little red books out to everyone, what will the day members do this year?

Given that the BTA divested itself of TriNEWS to the publishers of 220 and did the same with the Handbook it should be a no-cost item to members - advertising should be funding it if they did their sums right. It looks like the last piece of real tangible written communication from the BTA finally just upped and died. I, for one, and a lot of people who talk to me throughout the sport seem to be in agreement that we are not quite ready for the Handbook to be dumped in favour of an online system. If you agree that it's a step too far please let the BTA know. You'll find all their details in the Handbook...

Apr-22: London splits races over two days

As a result of demand for places in this year's London Triathlon, race organisers have taken the decision to move the event to two days. All Sprint and Super Sprint categories will now take place on Saturday 2nd August and all Elite and Olympic distance racing will take place on Sunday 3rd August.

London Triathlon Chairman, Rod Alexander, explained "This is an exciting development for The London Triathlon. It has always been part of our strategy to move to a two-day event. To avoid disappointing a huge number of applicants, including many first timers to the sport, we decided that now is the right time to make this move. Additionally we are in a position to do this due to the willingness and flexibility of ExCeL, our host venue, and with the approval of the London Borough of Newham and the Met Police. Whilst the elite and Olympic categories will be competing on the Sunday, Saturday will be as big a day in its own right, with over 2,000 competitors racing in both the Sprint and Super Sprint categories as well as the Junior event, promising a fantastic experience for everyone."

SBI are expecting over 5,000 people to participate in the event over the two days with the Sprint distance proving extremely popular, over 50% of entries in the London race are completely new to the sport. Our only concern as observers of the event over the past years would be with the logistics of getting the people racing on the Saturday in and out of the venue while still registering and racking the people who will be racing on Sunday - after all, the roads will be closed down for racing for at least half the day. Still, it does show that London has finally broken through and become a major participation event - something that the old management team never managed to achieve.

eGroup is gone, long live the eGroup...

We mailed out a few nights back to all the subscribers to the old triathletes-uk eGroup (or Yahoo!Group to be more precise but we still think of it by its original name!) The message was to let everyone know that we would not be re-activating the group after the misuse by a phantomn poster at the beginning of the year (not the first occasion, either) and also explaining that the same person/people had managed to populate the files area with pornography, even after we had closed the group to posting.

The other reason for the post was to let people know that Martin Dodd of Black Country Tri has recently set up another Yahoo!Group called triathlondiscussion: ([email protected]) and, hopefully, this new group will be less affected by the unpleasant and offensive behaviour by a specific minority.

Anyway, after many thousands of messages and several years operation the triathletes-uk eGroup is now finally closed. Old messages will remain until Yahoo! hoovers them away - we can't bring ourselves to delete them - and we would especially like to thank all those who have contributed positively in the past and Rob, Sarah and Mark for their help as co-administrators. Thanks also to the many people who have subsequently mailed us to thank us for the service - your comments are gratefully received.

Apr-16: New TV show seeks contestants

A London-based TV production company is looking for very fit, competitive people to take part in a new prime time BBC game show. They are looking for both male and female contestants to compete in a series of outdoor tests - the winners will go on to play for a cash prize. The challenges will require the contestants to be very physically fit, and extremely competitive.

A series of auditions and fitness assessments will take place between 7th April - 3rd May and you will need to be available to take part in one of these. Successful applicants will need to be completely free for filming from 5th- 9th May inclusive. If you are interested contact 12 Yard Productions on 020 7432 2942 for an application form. Alternatively, email .

Apr-15: Brits abroad this weekend

Spencer Smith put last week's disappointment at Half Ironman California when he returned to the Big Rock Triathlon and won convincingly in wet conditions. His next outing will be at the Gulf Coast Half Ironman on May 10th.

At the first of the ITU World Cup races at Ishigaki, Japan Michelle Dillon ran in 3rd in the women's race with Leanda Cave 14th and Anneliese Heard 17th. For the men, Andrew Johns was 6th, Marc Jenkins 12th, Richard Stannard 13th, Andrew Fargus 24th and Stuart Hayes 35th. Full report and results on the ITU website.

Tim Don second at the weekend's All Africa Champs. Apparently it was a very tough race and the perfect work-out a couple of weeks before his first ITU World Cup of the year at St Anthonys (Florida) on April 26th.

Apr-13: BTA insurance update

We just received the following from Ian Lole, the BTA's National Participation Manager, in response to the piece we published a couple of days ago.

I have just read the information posted on your website (9th April) quoting advice from John Schofield re insurance for event organisers. There are a couple of inaccuracies which I feel should be raised and I would like to update you on progress made by the BTA.

The news item says that the BTA insurers are Perkins-Slade : this has not been the case for 2 years since the BTA switched to IMR.

John suggests that "even clubs may have a problem affording whatever premiums the BTA come up with at the end of the month" - this simply is not true. I am not sure of the source of John's information or whether it is just speculation but the BTA has been working hard to secure the most competitive quote it can and although the premuim announcement may not be made for a couple of weeks (as further work is undertaken) early indications suggest that we will be able to keep any potential rise to a reasonably modest amount.

Clubs wishing to make alternative and comparable arrangements for liability (to a limit of £5 million) and professional indemnity (to a limit of £1 million) insurance are at liberty to do so - indeed if any club is able to identify a better deal than the BTA is able to offer we would love to hear from them. The BTA have agreed to give clubs until the end of May to opt out of the BTA scheme.

IMR will quote for event insurance for one-off events however as with any other form of insurance it would be advisable for organisers to seek other quotes. I am aware of the website John mentions as Powerman UK received a very competitive quote from this service. However, like John I am not in a position to make a recommendation but I would advise organisers to thoroughly check any quotes they are offered and make sure that they are receiving the cover they expect.

You also raise the issue of Day Membership. The current position is that personal accident cover has had to be suspended for both full and day members pending the identification of an affordable package (see the BTA website posting). Liability / professional indemnity cover is in place and this accounts for the £1 levy that the BTA charge for Day Members. Under the old policy the £1 would have covered PA insurance as well but this is no longer possible - the BTA hope to be able to offer this cover but for an additional charge.

I am sure you appreciate that this has been an extremely difficult time for the BTA compounded by the lack of notice given by our insurers (despite our best efforts) as to the impending price rises. However, we have been able to maintain liability cover and are in discussions with a number of insurance brokers to address PA cover. The delay is unavoidable as the brokers get a feel for our sport and analyse our claims history - we will be in a position to make an announcement within 2 weeks.

Apr-11: Cheltenham Triathlon Club founded

Cheltenham - famed for the Gold Cup, the Ladies College and the Literary Festival - at long last has its very own triathlon club. Based for the summer at the Sandford Park Lido 50m pool which opens this weekend, the Clubs founder members include an age group world championship gold medal winner, the fastest age group world championship bike split, some middle packers and plodders with great aspirations, and a newcomer to the sport planning their first race this summer.

Apart from swimming in the 50m pool, the Club uses the other superb local facilities of the Prince of Wales Stadium all weather track, trail running on Cleeve Hill, fast time-trial courses shared with friendly local cyclists, and the challenging Cotswold hills for serious bike training. The Club also welcomes triathletes outside the Cheltenham area who would like to meet up at races to evaluate the course and plan race strategy, get together for the pre race meal, cheer each other on, and whenever possible, indulge in post race celebrations.

Anyone interested in joining should vist the website or phone Sue Bathgate on 07703 298936 or Catherine O'Carroll on 07855 465918.

Apr-09: Event insurance from the organiser's viewpoint

John Schofield, as well as running the UKResults.net website, is also an event organiser in his own right. Following the BTA's recent announcements about insurance he has been looking around for cover.

In view of the current problems with insurance via the BTA, organisers may care to look further afield for cover. Even clubs may have a problem affording whatever premiums the BTA come up with at the end of the month Perkins Slade (the BTA's insurers) have indicated that they will not cover one-off events and more (although this seemed to depend on whether I was already a client).

A company which has indicated that cover is available for one-off events is Event Insurance Services (www.events-insurance.co.uk) through their standard one-off Event Policy (don't choose the annual events policy unless you have several events per year). Their rates do seem fairly reasonable. I can't say that I recommend this company (as I haven't made use of their services yet) BUT I haven't found any other company willing to accept the risk yet.

One obvious question that the BTA don't seem to have answered in their correspondence with members or organisers is what happens to the Day License fee. This is supposed to be paying for personal accident cover -- if that cover isn't there then should the organisers be charging for it and should the BTA be asking for it at all? Perhaps, for the moment, organisers should hold the money in a separate account against the day when all this gets sorted out.

Apr-08: Ware cancelled

The organisers of the Ware Triathlon, scheduled for May 11th, have cancelled the event following a significant change in attitude towards the event by local authority and Police. A letter has neem sent to all competitors and all cheques have been destroyed.

Chester chill out for Lucozade

Last year it was Tim Don and the mob from Deal Tri, this year it looks like Chester Tri are the stars of the new Lucozade adverts. "Forty of us travelled to the Marine Promenade, New Brighton at dawn recently to film for an advert for the Lucozade Sports drink," said Barry Frost of Chester Tri Club. "The morning shoot simulated a triathlon start into the sea. Whilst the sky was bright the very cold wind bit through our wet suits as we ran up and down the beach. A group of die hards even agreed to dive into the sea that was getting progressively further away with the outgoing tide. They weren't so enthusiastic after the eighth take!"

The afternoon shoot involved the athletes stripped down to running gear as they stood lined up at an authentic mock-up of a marathon start for several hours as the film crew got the shots they wanted. The triathlon and marathon will be the end scenes of two adverts to be screened all through the summer

Apr-07: Places left in Deal and Steyning races

Deal Tri are still accepting entries for their Dover Spring Aquathlon on Easter Sunday which this year incorporates the South East Regional Aquathlon Champs for Tristars and Youths. The race is being held at The Duke of York's Royal Military School in Dover. Entry costs are kept to a minimum with 8 to 14 year olds only paying £4.00, 14-16 year olds £6.00 and the seniors, who will race a 500 metre pool swim followed by a 8km country lane run. There is also a relay race of one swimmer/one runner with a cost of £12.00 per team.

This event has been consistently popular over the years and offers hot and cold food, massage, and Hargreaves Sports shop on site. Entry forms and age related race distances are on their website. Further details email: .

The Steyning Duathlon in West Sussex is part of the BTA's National Ranking Series and takes place on Easter Monday over a 5km run, 32km bike, 3km run. Entry forms can be obtained from their website (look under 'Steyning Triathlon Series'), by email from [email protected] or contact 07986 362435. Steyning is situated on the north side of the Sussex Downs about a 20 minute drive from Brighton. All the profits form this event and their Sprint Triathlon on the 4th May will go to the South Eastern Kidney Patients Association.

Apr-06: Benny back on form

At Powerman UK Benny Vansteelant (BEL), Jurgen Dereere (BEL), Martin Yelling (GBR) broke away on the first run to hit T1 in 40:56. Martin Yelling was next in with Richard Allen (GBR) in 41:14. Benny Vansteelant then worked hard to drop Jurgen Dereere on the undulating 60k bike course and take command of the race. By T2 he had a 5 minute cushion from Kim Neilson, Jurgen Dereere, Richard Allen and Wayne Smith. Martin Yelling was effectively out with cramp at 40k on the bike. Benny cruised the final 8k run to win in an amazing time of 2:35:13. Jurgen Dereere overtook Kim Neilson who hung on for 3rd place.

The seven Elite women started with the men and the first run was a close affair with Vicky Pincombe (GBR) leading the field, Ulrike Schwalbe (GER) and Ann Paul (IRL) very close together. Vicky broke away on the bike, Ulrike Schwalbe suffered back problems but still managed to stay ahead of Ann Paul. By T2 Vicky's lead was 8 minutes and she finished the second run in the fastest time of the day recording 2:58:26 overall. Ulrike Schwalbe finished second in 3:08:33 with Ann Paul in third with a time of 3:09:59 and Imogen Thornburgh (GBR) was fourth with a time of 3:11:01. For results see their website.

Brits racing abroad

Quite a collection of Brits in action around the world; this weekend is the California Half Ironman and Iroman Australia. High hopes for Spencer Smith were not realised in California when he pulled out on the bike leg, among the GB finishers were Steve and Daf Belt. Results from both events can be found on the IronmanLive website.

BTA work around Championship clash

The loss of the Dambuster as the National Age Group Championships and the resulting re-shuffle of dates has meant that Chester's Deva Triathlon (the age group female championship) now clashes with Dambuster as a qualifier for the 2003 World Championships.

Although there are still three other qualifiers open to women; Shropshire, Windsor and Pembrokeshire it has been decided that in order to recognise the Women's Age Group Championships at Chester's Deva Triathlon one slot per age group (ie the National Age Group Champion in each age category) will be allocated for the World Championships.

Apr-03: Gold sponsor four triathletes

Gold, a UK based home finance and asset protection company, who should be familiar to triathletes from their sponsorship of some of the Human Race events, are backing four internationally recognised athletes; ITU World no 1 Greg Bennett, World no 3 and World Championship bronze medallist Andrew Johns, three-time World Champion and two-time Ironman winner Spencer Smith, World Duathlon and former junior World Triathlon Champion Tim Don. The two-year sponsorship deals are designed to support them in their efforts to achieve maximum racing success. The quartet were pre-selected on the basis of their will to win, focus, attitude and proven abilities. Johns, Bennett and Don are all viewed as potential Olympic medallists in Athens 2004, while Smith is a potential Hawaii Ironman champion. All four have a busy 2003 race schedule planned and will all be appearing in the UK on behalf of Gold at one or more of the following venues: Eton Triathlon 17th May, Windsor Triathlon June 15th, Salford World Cup 27th July and the Gold Multisport Triathlon Festival Weekend on the 23rd and 24th August (brand new event). Invitational training seminars with the four athletes are being arranged for both Windsor and the Gold Festival weekend. Gold CEO Jason Jackman comments: "We are proud to be associated with four of the very best triathletes in the sport. We will do all we can to ensure they can concentrate on achieving their goals in the next two years. They reflect all that is great about the exciting sport of triathlon".

Events update

Sevenoaks Tri Club are still taking entries for the Easter Eggstravaganza (500m swim + 5 mile run) to be held on Easter Sunday (20 April). Last entries by Monday 14 April please. Entry forms available from the club websiteor call 01732 833144 or 01892 512846.

Powerman UK is this Sunday at Carsington Water, Ashbourne with a world class elite field chasing the €5,000 in prize money. Included are two past World Champions and the current World Long Course champion, Huub Maas (NED). The best of the British include Richard Allen and Martin Yelling, the current National Champion. Current National Champion Vicky Pincombe is the women's race favourite but will have tough competition from Ulrike Schwalbe from Germany and Suzanne Nordby Jenson from Denmark.

One Step Beyond's Southwell Triathlon is full, a month before the race. For more details of their later events see the organiser's website

The Home Nations triathlon will be hosted by The London Triathlon, on Sunday 3 August and will use the full elite course into Central London. A Home Nation's team is made up of eight competitors, (two male and female elites, one male and female vet and one male and female junior elite), with each competitor's time added together to give the overall finish time. If you would like to be part of the selection process, then please contact your relevant team manager: England: Dave Bellingham - [email protected], Ireland: Peter Jack - [email protected], Scotland: John Whitaker - [email protected], Wales: Chris Goulden - [email protected]. For further information about The London Triathlon visit their website.

BTA loses insurance cover

As of April 1st the BTA has lost its personal accident insurance cover for members and is maintainting public liability cover for itself and members on a month-by-month basis. The reason is a huge (2,000%) hike in the premiums by their insurers which, basically, has meant that the BTA cannot afford the premiums.

Race organisers using the BTA insurance need to be aware that they have probably also lost their cover -- we were told yesterday by the Chairman, Peter Coulson, that only the BTA and clubs affiliated to the BTA and running events purely for the benefit of the clubs and its members would have cover. With the season about to start in earnest this could leave a lot of events scrambling for cover and it clearly makes a nonsense of the BTA's Day License scheme which is entirely based on providing insurance cover to non-members as a way of gathering data from events to help the BTA grow as an organisation.

Staff at the BTA headquarters in Loughborough have been working to contact event organisers affected by this situation and also talking to the governing bodies of other similar sports to see what insurance deals they have done. The BTA have never released details of how many members have claimed against the policy but we do know that as well as the issue of personal accident cover there are still some outstanding issues relating to insurance cover on motorcycle referees - a situation which was brought to a head last year by a crash at Bournemouth.

The BTA website has a complete situation report and we strongly advise everybody to read it and check what, if any, cover they have at this time. Hopefully the issue will be swiftly resolved.

Mar-31: Dambuster status changes

Due to circumstances beyond the organisers control, Anglian Water have been forced to reduce the number of competitors taking parting the Dambuster Triathlon on 29th June 2003. As a result of this reduction in numbers, Transition Sport have been left with no choice but to abdicate the National Age-group title status. The Dambuster will, however, still be held with a reduced field of 300 competitors and will retain its World Championship qualifier status for 2003 and as part of the 220 Race Series.

The BTA will be looking to confirm a new venue for the 2003 National Age-group championships as soon as possible with updates on www.britishtriathlon.org. Any athletes already entered for the Dambuster who subsequently choose not to compete in the event following this change in status will be entitled to a full refund, and should contact Transition Sport in writing or by to request the return of their entry fee.

Races filling early

Looks like 2003 might be the year that triathletes have to break the habit of a lifetime and actually enter events early. We hear that both the Chirk Sprint Triathlon on 27 April is now full with 320 entries and the Harlech Triathlon on the 13 April has also filled well before the event with over 300 entries. The Gatorade Royal Windsor Triathlon is also filling twice as quickly as last year -- well over 1,100 athletes are already in the system.

Triathletes running well

Thanks for John Levison for this news. Tim Don would appear to be in rather good running shape at the moment. Last Wednesday (Mar-26) he finished 3rd at the 'Gino's 10km Nite Race' starting and finishing at Coetzenburg Stadium, Stellenbosch, South Africa (Tim has been living in Stellenbosch for a couple of years now) in a time of 29:52. Earlier in the month he recorded a low 14 mins time for 5000m on the same track.

Nearer to home, triathletes continue to show well in road races as Hillingdon Tristar's Colette O'Neill, a member of the 2002 Cancun AG team, won the Thames Towpath Ten yesterday in 1:05:12. A great effort on a largely off-road course, particularly after recording a 5th place (39:04) in the same 10km as Tim on Wednesday, followed by a 12 hour flight on Friday...

Mar-26: Where's the Handbook?

If you're puzzled by the lack of a BTA Handbook - and we know that some of you are - then you'll be pleased to hear that it has apparently gone off to be proofread... We can't be certain but we think that this is the latest it has been for several years, certainly in the days of Ron Thorne's editorship we don't think it was ever this late. The fact that Origin are still trying to sell adverts would indicate that it may well be Easter before we get to see a printed copy and the season will well and truly have started.

The BTA website is certainly much improved with a constant stream of news and there are many resources for looking up race dates on the internet - we know just how popular our race pages are - but there's no substitute for that little book. After all, it's almost the only tangible benefit of being a member and probably the most useful given that TriNEWS is well out of date by the time it reaches the doormat.

Litespeed Duathlon to be both elite and age group championships

The Litespeed Swindon Duathlon will now also include the Elite Duathlon Championships. There will now be an elite mens wave and only athletes in that wave can compete for prize money (athletes competing in the elite wave are not eligible for age group medals).

Anyone competing in the age group waves will be eligible for age group medals, but will not be eligible for prize money. In the womens event elite and age groupers will compete together, but only those selecting to race elite prior to the event will be eligible for prize money.

The total prize purse will now be £1000 split equally between elite men and elite women. If you wish to race elite please make a note to this fact on the entry form and give details of previous best performance. For entry forms download from: americanbicycle.co.uk - select Litespeed then events, or email:[email protected] phone/fax 01793 853933

Mar-22: QR on tour

Starting next week the QR Roadshow will weave its way around the country. Based at the company's major dealerships the show will be headlining the 2003 range of bikes and wetsuits and offering a free bikefitting service. For details of the dealers and dates see the ABG website.

Mar-21: Places left for Dragon Slayer

There are still a few places available in the East London Triathletes Dragon Slayer duathlon on the 6th April. There are also places available for any novice athletes in the shorter Dragon Tamer. These two races will be on completely enclosed purpose built track at Eastway Stadium. Entrants should ring Dawn Hunter on 0208 505 9439 or Rob Moorehead-Lane on 07970 761 422.

Mar-17: More tickets!

Christiaan Walker has two one way tickets to Klagenfurt for IM Austria on Ryan Air flying from Stanstead. The travel date and names on the tickets can be changed up to 3 hours before departure for 15GBP, so there is no problem transferring, it's simply that Ryan Air have a no refunds policy! The two tickets cost 164 GBP, which includes all taxes and fees plus one pre booked bike place. If anyone wants them for 110 GBP for the pair please contact him by email at .

Mar-16: Brits racing this weekend

Congratulations to Vicky Pincombe who convincingly took top honours at the Dannon Duathlon in Florida today. Martin Yelling was placed 3rd in the mens race. For details and a report see the duathlon.com website

Spare ticket/hotel for Ibiza

Mike Russell has a spare place (flight and accommodation) from Stanstead to Ibiza plus 4* hotel for the world Long Course Championships. Fly out Thursday evening 8th May, return Monday night 12th May. Contact him on .

Mar-11: Another date clash

The BTA has just announced the National Elite Championships at the Great Wales Triathlon in Swansea on June 8th. Grandstand TV coverage and the potential of ITU Points as an International/ETU Cup race like Windsor make this an important race but what about the obvious clash with Shropshire? Shropshire is both a National Ranking event and a qualifier for the World Championships which will pull a very significant crowd to what is a proven and popular event.

Like last year's Stockton event, the Great Wales Triathlon is being organised by Nova International and, in another distinct parallel, the new event is to take place in the middle of a development site where some significant improvements to the infrastructure are needed before any racing will be taking place at all. And, just as with the Elite Championships last year at Stockton, the event is being talked up a storm by the BTA's Graeme Maw. We just hope the water's a bit warmer than it was in Stockton...

Age groupers to race London elite course

The organisers of the London Triathlon have opened up the elite course to up to 400 age group athletes who can provide proof that they can go under 2 hours 30 minutes. Following agreement with the various local authorities and police (the roads are closed so they might as well be used...) this means that the more able age groupers will get another chance this year to race an elite venue - Salford being the other obvious opportunity.

Entry to this wave will be on a first come, first served basis and must be supported by evidence of ability. Full details from the organisers at or visit their website.

Mar-09: Brits abroad this weekend

At the Devenport ITU International Triathlon in Australia Paul Amey placed 4th with AJ 8th while Leanda Cave took 5th and Anneliese Heard 8th. Results on the ITU website.

Mar-07: Team Viper camp dates

Team Viper are running a series of one day training camps with BTA Level 3 coaches Dave Dunn and Ian Gummery. Guest tutors will also speak on specialist topics. The camps are open to all abilities, ages 13 and upwards and cost £25 for the day. Dates so far are Feb-23 (Brighton Health & Racquets Club), Mar-30 (Southbury Leisure Centre, Enfield), Apr-27 and May-18 (open water, Southwater, West Sussex). For details and booking contact Dave Dunn at or on 01273 582485 / 07977 108 509.

Mar-05: Clubs on the lookout for athletes

Team Outrageous are looking for 5 female triathletes who meet the following criteria to be invited to join the club that sponsors its triathletes from the proceeds of its races. The criteria are: Female triathlete, preferably long distance, lives in the South East within distance of Leybourne Lake (M20, J4), willing to help at the Olympic race we organise, prepared to train with "distance" athletes, ultimately want to do Ironman, take part in team races (as an individual).

The successful athletes will get free club membership, free Orca kit, free race entries into our series and club championships and hotel bills paid for club champs series. Applicants do not need to be superstars, just genuine enthusiastic triathletes. For more details contact Mike Russell at or see the website at www.teamoutrageous.com.

Another small group of guys and girls who swim train three times a week mostly with triathlon in mind need to get a few extra bodies to maintain it as a viable option. The sessions are at Furzefield Centre, Potters Bar in Hertfordshire on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays between 6:00am and 7:00am. Monday is a medium training session 2000m - 2400m, Wednesday is a hard training session 2000m - 3000m and Friday is coaching/training with qualified swim coach. Most abilities are catered for, if your not sure of your ability then start off on a Friday session.

The cost is £35 a month to attend all three sessions a week, with the price dropping down for only two sessions and again for just one. Anyone interested can just turn up at 6:00am and ask for Carl (bloke who organises things), Alan (bloke who coaches) or Andy (bloke who just swims and stuff)

Mar-04: PowermanUK update

Richard Allen and Julian Jenkinson have both signed up for PowermanUK. Allen's return to duathlon follows a five year absence but after his withdrawal from the WCPP programme he is coming back to the sport where he first achieved success as holder of two National Duathlon titles. He was also the runner-up in PowermanUK 1994 and 9th in the Powerman series in 1995. Julian Jenkinson also makes a welcome return following an injury-plagued 2002.

Entries are coming in thick and fast with 10 different countries being represented competing for a valuable Zofingen slot. Full details can be found on www.powermanuk.com

TI camp at Millfield

Total Immersion are running a residential triathlon camp at Millfield School from April 13th to 18th. In addition to the UK's leading TI instructors, cycling and running will be covered. The swimming sessions will have an emphasis on preparation for open water swimming although all the work will be pool-based. The total cost for tuition, with full board and lodgings is £565. For details contact the UK office on 0800 389 9913 or visit their website.

Mar-03: Tim Don wins South African series

Tim won the National Sprint Series (5 FM/Energade Triathlon series) in South Africa. The series witnessed a new record of 2000 athletes competing - guess they'll all be back here in the summer (?) then...

Feb-24: Snippets from the weekend

Paul Amey and Richard Stannard continued their racing in Australia at the 3rd round of the Accenture sprint series finishing 10th and 14th respectively with Kevin Clark 20th.

Feb-21: Need help with club fund raising?

Robert Moorehead-Lane, chairman of East London Triathletes has become a Sport England Partner Agency, in regards to applications for Awards for All grants and funding. This is a useful way of raising money for your club for any projects from Races to coaching or publicity and advertising of your clubs events and training sessions.

The BTA London Region recently secured £4,800 through this agency to help promote Triathlon and your club could benefit as well from £500 to £5,000. So if you would like to know how to apply and acquire very useful knowledge on the best way to fill in an Awards for All application form to give you the best chance of securing the funding you require. Get in touch with Robert on 07970 761 422, he will be looking to arrange a workshop soon depending on the interest shown in this useful and easy way of raising cash for triathlon clubs up and down the country.

Culford Triathlon date change

The Culford Sprint and Youth Triathlon (incorporating the Eastern Region Youth Championships) will now take place on Sunday 20 July 2003: ie one week later than originally advertised. This is due to the pool being unavailable on the original date. All other details remain the same and the organisers apologise for any inconvenience. An updated entry form is available at http://freespace.virgin.net/justin.emma/forms/entry/culfordtri2003.doc.

Feb-19: BBC Worldwide secures international rights for triathlon TV

BBC Worldwide, the commercial consumer arm of the BBC, and the International Triathlon Union (ITU) have signed a deal, in which, for the first time, BBC Worldwide will have full international television distribution rights for all ITU events, including the Triathlon World Cup and the Triathlon World Championships.

Each year, BBC Worldwide will distribute a total of 16 52-minute edited highlight programmes from each of the competitions around the world - including Europe, USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia and New Zealand. Live coverage will also be available to broadcasters from some of the venues, including the World Championships, which will take place in December 2003 in New Zealand.

BBC Worldwide's Sport Sales Manager, Richard Hornsby-Smith, said, "The Triathlon produced some of the most memorable images of the 2000 Sydney Olympics and is one of the fastest-growing modern sports. Adding such a prestigious property to our catalogue is very exciting for us and underlines BBC Worldwide's commitment to expanding its sports programming portfolio. We are looking forward to a fruitful relationship with the ITU."

Les McDonald, President of the ITU added, "The Triathlon is still in its infancy, to have thought 10 years ago that ITU would have BBC Worldwide acting as our distribution agency would have been an impossible dream. The inventor of television, Logie Baird, the Scotsman with a dream would surely have understood our challenging, charismatic sport. We have just begun the task of bringing Triathlon to the home of sport spectators, and with the help of BBC Worldwide, the future looks brilliant."

Under the terms of the new agreement, the ITU will retain the international broadcast distribution rights for Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Feb-18: Weekend updates

Running a bit late this week! At the weekend's Luke Harrop Memorial triathlon in Australia Anneliese Heard placed 5th in the womens field, Kevin clark was 6th, Andrew Johns 13th and Richard Stannard 14th in the mens.

Feb-16: Old results needed, can you help?

John Schofield is compiling Harry Waugh's Yorkshire Dales Tri site and is very keen to get a complete set of results online for this historic event. After a lot of digging he's now only missing 3 years' worth of results - 1984 (the very first year), 1991 and 1994 (the only year since 1992 when he wasn't involved).

There are also a couple of blanks during the years 1985 to 1990 (ie missing lines, names or times from various pages sent to him due to missing pages, holes in paper etc) so if anyone can fill those blanks it would be helpful. They'll be pretty obvious from viewing the pages on www.oldestandtoughest.org.uk

If anyone has a set of results for one of those years can they email or post a copy to him? Email to or post to 1 Sutton Street, Feniscowles, Blackburn BB2 5ES.

Feb-12: Steve Trew's Easter camps

Steve Trew's running his annual pilgrimage to Malta for two weeks of training in all disciplines with an opportunity to race in a sprint triathlon organised by the Malta Triathlon Association. The camp will run from the 11th to the 26th and makes the perfect way to start the season whether you are an International athlete, a novice or a middle of the packer. The average water temperature at Easter is 62°F, wetsuits are recommended for open water sessions, but are not an absolute necessity. Most swimming sessions take place in the open water, the Sirens open air pool or the International 50m pool. The weather is great and eating and drinking out are excellent value.... and everyone speaks English.

In addition to the International sprint distance race there are a number of other races including a triathlon relay, cycle time trials, a 5k road race, a hilly run relay, an open water swim relay, plus all the normal triathlon training sessions on cycling, running and swimming. There is the opportunity to train all day if you want, or to take it just as easy as you want to. Just 30 places are available and the price of £565 from Heathrow includes everything except food and insurance. There are even group discounts. If you are interested or want to have a chat then just pick up the phone and ring Steve Trew on 0208 886 5175 or write to 144 Fox Lane, Palmers Green, London, N13 4BA.

Feb-10: Weekend roundup

Andrea Whitcombe finished fourth in the UK cross country trials in Nottingham on Saturday. In a strong field containing all of Britain's top distance runners, apart from Paula Radcliffe, Andrea narrowly missed out on an individual medal. She immediately declined her place in the World Cross-Country Championships to concentrate on her triathlon training in Australia. Andrea's coach Simon Wilson said "Andrea feels she owes UK Athletics nothing after they failed to support (her) for years and is now totally committed to becoming the World's best triathlete".

Richard Stannard placed 6th in the Accenture race in Sydney, thanks to triathlonline for that one.

Feb-09: Spencer confirms for HIMUK

It's hardly been a well-kept secret that Spencer Smith was lining up to do this year's UK Half Ironman but until the ink was dry on the paper it seemed foolish to go to print. According to Spencer, talking at the TCR show this morning, it's all signed and sealed so we're looking forward to some interesting action at Sherborne in late August.

Feb-05: Salford World Cup seeks volunteers

The city of Salford has successfully bid to stage the first ever ITU World Cup event in the UK. Salford Quays proved a massive hit last year, when huge crowds flocked to witness the Commonwealth Games triathlon, and organisers are aiming to recreate that fantastic buzz. This year's event will be broadcast on BBC's Grandstand sports programme, and will feature the top of the triathlon world's elite, seeking selection for the Olympic Games in Athens in August 2004.

Vital to the success last year was a team of dedicated sport volunteers, and the city of Salford is turning once again to the triathlon community to support this event. Experienced marshals from last year should have received a direct invitation to join the team, but new volunteers are also sought. Anyone interested in playing their part in this showcase event should contact Sue Bainbridge of Salford City Council. You can email , write to Sue Bainbridge, Events Office, FREEPOST MR10203, Marketing and Communications, Minverva House, Pendlebury Road Swinton, Salford M27 4EQ or ring 0161-778-0340 (24 hour message service available).

Manchester Tri Club website change

Due to a nasty case of a failing ISP and a somewhat dodgy South American cyber squatter, the Manchester Tri Club website is now located at www.man-tri-club.org.uk.

Feb-03: Powerman UK

To clear up any misunderstanding about the Ashbourne Duathlon the organisers have issued the following. The Ashbourne Duathlon has now been incorporated into PowermanUK on April 6th 2003 and (this race) is the only UK qualifier for the Powerman finals in Zofingen on September 14th. The distance has now been slightly extended to 12k 60k 8k. The race is also a World Qualifier (GB age group team) for the ITU World Duathlon Championships at Affoltern in Switzerland on 29-31 August. Three slots per age-group will be allocated. The event is also the first race in the BTA Grand Prix National Ranking series, The Police (PAA) National Champs and the East Midlands Regional Duathlon Champs.

With the likes of Benny Vansteelant (7 time World Champion), Jurgen Derere (former European and current bronze medalist in the World LC Champs), Martin Yelling (GB National Champion) and Wayne Smith (Team GB Elite and former National Champion) already entered the competition looks set to be great for the first major UK event of 2003. Full details of the event can be located on www.powermanuk.com or email .

Jan-31: Question time at the show

Three-times National Triathlon Champion, Jodie Swallow, will be one of the star guest speakers at Triathlon, Cycling and Running 2003 show which is next weekend at Sandown Park, Esher. She will be answering questions about her career to date and ambitions for the future at 2.30pm on the Saturday and 11.30am on the Sunday. If you'd like to pose a question for Jodie to answer at the show email it to . The organisers will be giving a goody bag to the best question as judged by Jodie.

Jan-29: Duathlon updates

Thanks to the folk at Triathlonline for letting us know about the date change for Zofingen, now a week earlier on the 13th and 14th of September and the news that Julie Dibens won the Lanzarote Duathlon last weekend. Diane Ridings, who used to be at Crystal Palace, placed 9th. Richard Hobson was 10th in the mens race. There are some results up on duathlon.com.

Jan-28: Server upgrade completed, mail is screwed...

Hopefully nobody noticed the downtime... ...but we're running about a day behind with classifieds as they managed to lock out our email. Anyone who has submitted a classified ad since Saturday should re-send it tomorrow, Wednesday - we think all the mail in between has probably been lost... UPDATE: All back to normal on Wednesday afternoon.

Jan-23: eGroup suspended

Despite numerous warnings from the administrators there has been yet another offensive posting to the eGroup and so the triathletes-uk eGroup has been suspended. The eGroup has always been unmoderated - a) the various administrators don't have the time and b) people ought to be responsible enough on their own, but there have been several occasions where people have joined using some pseduonym, posted (often offensive) comments and then immediately removed themselves.

We have received a lot of mail and phone calls today, all offering support and many expressing annoyance at the actions of a minority causing so much hassle the majority. The various suggestions that the legal folk should be pursuing the guilty rather than myself are sadly missing the point made in the last paragraph. The guilty have fled leaving no trace - although I presume Yahoo! might be able to track them, assuming they ever gave any real details.

If you are a member (ie registered on Yahoo!) you should still be able to view any older postings but no new postings or members are being accepted until things have been sorted out.

Jan-22: HIMUK is full

It took just a month to fill the 1,250 places available for August's event in Sherborne. The competitor list is rapidly catching up but we do wish they would show age groups as well...

Jan-20: Southern Region notice

Due to a number of committee members being unavailable for the original date, the Southern Region AGM has been rescheduled for 1800hrs February 9th at Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service HQ, Eastleigh, Hampshire (just off M3).

Jan-10: Salford date changes

Because of a date clash with New York and issues regarding TV coverage the Salford World Cup event has now been confirmed as changing to July 27th. The eagle-eyed will spot that this is the same day as Milton Keynes -- which means that we might have two WC qualifiers on the same day, interesting...

The delay in announcing the date change was because the organisers needed to get a scheduled performance by the Singapore 'Lady Boys' moved out of the Lowry Plaza - that might have been interesting! Athletes amd performers comparing leg shaving techniques, perhaps?

Jan-09: New name for Newline Tri

Having had two name changes in as many years, Team Newline Triathletes has now become Sevenoaks Triathlon Club. Mark Horne, Club Chairman, said "Club members at the recent AGM agreed that the name of the club should be changed to reflect where the club is based and where its members train. We are hoping to attract more budding triathletes from the surrounding areas now that they know where we are!." Membership application forms and details of the club's training sessions can be found on the Club's website.

London expands

The London Triathlon has confirmed August 3rd for the 2003 race and has announced that it will be expanding to a capacity of 5,000 entrants. Also new this year is the Team Super Sprint where less confident or able athletes can do a 400m swim, 10k bike and 2.5k run as a team.

Jan-02: East London need a swim coach

East London Triathletes are looking to appoint a new swim coach to administer the development of the clubs swimming technique and fitness. The position is paid and will involve one hours coaching per week, currently from 9pm - 10pm on a Tuesday evening. An additional one hours coaching on the last Thursday evening of the month which is also paid and involves stroke technique video work (video recorder supplied by the club) at the same time.

Candidates are invited to forward their CVs to Robert Moorehead-Lane (the club chairman) either or at 15 Helena Place, London E9 7NJ.