The Club Relays again delivered top quality racing as one of the high spots of the triathlon calendar.

On Saturday 2nd August over 430 teams, some 1800 individuals enjoyed the closed road circuit of the current British Triathlon event of the year.

In a repeat of 2006 & 2007, 2XU TFN RT senior mens team took overall victory along with their junior male team winning their category. In second place in the senior mens was Wakefield Tri Club just overall 1 minute behind. Finishing the podium positions was Sigma Sport

The overall womens victory was taken by thetriathloncoach.com beating BRAT’s into second place by a margin of 2 minutes. In third place was Planet X’s female team, just 45 seconds behind BRAT.

In the veterans category, the overall male winners were again BRAT’s and Leicester Tri Club in the womens.

Click here to download the full results.

If you liked this article, why not subscribe to TrispaceRSS Feed

Hollie Avil and Will Clarke took the titles of British National Champions yesterday in Tredegar, South Wales, on the eve of the British team’s departure for the Olympic holding camp in Korea.
All five of the Beijing bound British triathletes started the second Corus Elite Series race which combined the national championships over the Olympic distance.

Avil featured strongly in a lead group of five on the bike which included Abble Thorington, Andrea Whitcombe, Jodie Swallow and Mari Rabie (South Africa). Chasing behind were Liz Blatchford, Vicky Holland and Kerry Lang.

Eighteen year old Avil looked impressive as she tore through the swim. Avil also featured strongly in a lead group of five on the bike which included Abble Thorington, Andrea Whitcombe, Jodie Swallow and Mari Rabie (South Africa). Chasing behind were Liz Blatchford, Vicky Holland and Kerry Lang. Avil accelerated away at 5km into the run to win her first British senior title ahead of Liz Blatchford and Andrea Whitcombe.

As expected Helen Tucker did not race the event although she did start and complete the first discipline, emerging first from the 1500m swim.

In the men’s race Will Clarke battled throughout the 1500m swim, 40km cycle and 10km run with fellow Team GB members Tim Don and Alistair Brownlee and managed to hold them off to take the win. In a competitive race the athletes showed good form following a heavy training block leading into the Olympic Games.

Although Brownlee appeared off form, apparently suffering from stomach problems, the Beijing five came through this their final competition prior to the Olympics with out any major upsets. Brownlee, Clarke, Don, Avil and Tucker together with their support staff will soon fly off to the holding camp in Korea and the countdown to Beijing starts in earnest.

If you liked this article, why not subscribe to TrispaceRSS Feed

England’s longest natural lake, Windermere, will provide a watery stage for the inaugural Great North Swim, the first mass participation open water swim event of its kind in the UK.

Over 1000 swimmers of all abilities are expected to grace its stunning shores at Low Wood on Saturday 13th September, to take up the challenge of a specially designed one-mile course – wetsuit optional!

The event has already caught the attention of some of the biggest names in swimming, with Great Britain’s Kerry-Anne Payne and the UK’s most decorated male swimmer and eight times World Record Holder, Mark Foster, signing up for their places in the open water swim.

Mark said: “Being a sprint swimmer, it has been a while since I have actually swam a mile, so when I heard about the Great North Swim, I thought it’s about time I gave it a go!

“The real beauty of this event is that I will be hitting the shore line at the same time as people who are taking to the open water for the first time. This is going to make for a fantastic atmosphere and something I am proud to support.”

Inspired by the BUPA Great North Run, the world’s largest half marathon, the team behind it have translated the formula to the water. The Great North Swim is designed to suit people of all abilities, from club or competitive participants, to fun and charity swimmers.

The Great North Swim is the latest event to be launched as part of the Great Activity Campaign – a national activity programme designed to fight spiralling inactivity and obesity rates and raise huge amounts of money for charity in the process.

Entry for the event is open to people aged 15 and over. All swimmers must have completed a one-mile swim in training before the event to qualify. Wetsuits are optional but are recommended.

Click here to enter the event and find out more information.

If you liked this article, why not subscribe to TrispaceRSS Feed

Parc Bryn Bach in Tredegar, Wales, will host this Saturday’s National Elite Championships which will feature four of Britain’s five triathletes selected for the Beijing Olympic Games.

The National Elite Championships form the second fixture of the Corus Elite Series and fourth race in the British Triathlon Grand Prix.

Tim Don will be looking to retain his national championship for the fifth successive year having remained undefeated since 2004. Don cruised through the run at Bryn Bach last year to hold off Andrew Johns and Stuart Hayes for the win whilst Will Clarke suffered with a crash and a puncture. Alistair Brownlee will make his debut on the course, which includes a tough hill climb on the 40km cycle leg.

Hollie Avil will also make her first appearance in Wales, and indeed, her first senior national championship, which will only be her fifth Olympic distance race. Helen Tucker, Britain’s other Beijing bound female has elected not to compete having raced at the Porthcawl Triathlon last weekend. Following the race

International competitors include Portugal’s rising under 23 athlete, Joao Silva and former junior world champion, Anais Moniz. Mari Rabie from South Africa’s Olympic team will challenge, as will Bermuda’s Flora Duffy who graduated from Kelly College in Devon last month.

The day will kick off at 08:45am with Youth and Junior Aquathlon (swim-run) races before the elite women’s championship starts at 10:45am. The men take to the water at 1:45pm with presentations held at 4:00pm.

Should be worth a visit if you’re in the area, with a few of the big names in the UK racing.

If you liked this article, why not subscribe to TrispaceRSS Feed

Total Racing Inc will be staging a 1/2 Ironman race in Keswick the last weekend in June 2009. The race will be 2XU’s main sponsored race in the UK as well has having Genr8 as nutrition sponsor.

The race will take place in one of the most beautiful areas in the UK, with the 1.9k swim in Derwent Water, the 90k bike taking in lakeland passes and a challenging 13 mile run taking in the beautiful views around Derwent Water. This will be quite a tough race hence the ‘Hell Of The North’ name!

Entries for the race will be opening soon in July and will be available at Total Racing Inc
There will be special offers on sponsor products for those who enter before November 2008 as well as discounts on familiarisation training camps.

If you are interested in taking part in the event, you can pre-register an interest by mailing Total Racing Inc at info@totalracinginc.com.

Time to get training!

If you liked this article, why not subscribe to TrispaceRSS Feed

If you haven’t ever raced at the Relays, you really have missed out. One of the most exhilarating and fun events on the UK calendar the Relays revolves around teams of four using a tagging format where everyone swims, everyone bikes and everyone runs in race that looks like a mixture between competition and chaos.

Now in its 17th year, the Relays really is the focal point as well as the vocal point of the season for many teams who look to a real club event to bring them together and where camaraderie and teamwork really pay off.

With a 500m swim, a 15km bike and a 5km run any four triathletes can get together and make up a team and race in one of the range of team categories available. But don’t think it is just one big laugh, with British Triathlon National Honours at stake there will be some serious racing out there on a completely closed course over which your teammates can see you (and shout at you) for the duration of all three disciplines. Ever fancied racing a triathlon in an arena, well this is as close as it gets.

Date: 02 August 2008
Location: Holme Pierrepont, Nottingham NG12 2LU
Competitors: 1600+
Relay x 4: 500m Swim - 15km Bike - 5km Run

You can enter online here.

If you liked this article, why not subscribe to TrispaceRSS Feed

In one of the oldest running world cups on the circuit it was triathlon veteran Andrea Whitcombe of Great Britain to top the podium for the first time since 2005. Whitcombe’s time of 2 hours 2 minutes and 48 seconds bested her closest rival Felicity Abram of Australia by 46 seconds in the hot and dry conditions. Abram’s silver medal today comes off a second place finish at the Hamburg BG Triathlon World Cup one week ago. Beijing-bound Mariana Ohata of Brazil rounded out the podium in third a further 33 seconds back.

From the starter’s horn it was Sarah Groff of the U.S. taking an early lead in the swim, exiting the water with local Margit Vanek of Hungary 23 seconds ahead of a group of four including Abram, Ohata, Whitcombe and Helle Frederiksen of Denmark.

After going out on her own for the first six kilometres and losing Vanek, Groff wisely sat up to wait for the group of four behind her rather then testing the mid-thirty degree temperatures solo. Once together the lead group of five immediately put a commanding two minutes on their chasers by the end of the first of seven short and technical laps through town. The lead grew to almost four minutes by the end of the 40 kilometre bike course leaving no doubt the medalists would come from this front group.

As temperatures continued to rise, the women hit the 10-kilometre flat and fast run course through the centre of town. As with the swim and bike Groff led out early in the run but was quickly passed by a charging Whitcombe and Abram. With recent personal best performances, early on it looked as though Abram would get her first world cup win.
This was not the case however as Whitcombe stormed away after the first of four laps to lead out on her own, putting time into her chasers on each lap.

Waving to the thousands of spectators gathered, Whitcombe crossed the finish line comfortably in first place for her third career world cup win. Although not selected for the British Olympic team, Whitcombe shows she is a contender for the remaining four BG Triathlon World Cup titles.

If you liked this article, why not subscribe to TrispaceRSS Feed

Great Britain’s Bella Comerford and Stephen Bayliss both took silver medals at the weekend’s Ironman Austria in Klagenfurt.

Comerford lead for much of the race, however was overtaken during the marathon by Germany’s Sandra Wallenhorst who clocked an impressive 2:54 run split for the 26.2 miles to register the fastest Ironman time for a woman in history (8:47:25). Comerford finished in a time of 8:51:15 to take the British record away from Chrissie Wellington who finished the European Championships in 8:51:24 last week.

Stephen Bayliss also a racked up a personal best time for the distance as he finish in 8:13:52, to finish in second behind Marino Vanhoenacker of Belgium. His clocking is thought to be a British record, but is to be confirmed.

If you liked this article, why not subscribe to TrispaceRSS Feed

Chrissie Wellington, Britain’s current World Ironman triathlon champion, won her fourth straight Ironman distance title and became the European Ironman Champion in the process, whilst just missing out on the world record by 31 seconds.

Supported by thousands of fans that were packed all around the historic German city of Frankfurt, Wellington won in a time of 8:51:24, the second fastest clocking in history and some 26 minutes ahead of second place Nicole Leder from Germany.

Having lead from start to finish, Wellington exited the 2.4 mile lake swim in 48:34; she then embarked on the two lap bike course featuring the aptly named hill, ‘The Hell’. Wellington completed the 112 mile bike in 4:57:17.

Cheered on by the ever growing crowds, Wellington set out on the run with a determined look on her face only allowing herself her trade mark smile towards the end of the four lap 26.2 mile marathon run. As she approached the finish line the emotion showed on her face as the Frankfurt crowd rose to their new champion.

This result reaffirms Wellington’s position as the worlds leading female Ironman triathlete and bodes well for the defence of her Hawaii World Championship crown.

If you liked this article, why not subscribe to TrispaceRSS Feed

Wakefield will once again host the Mazda British Triathlon Age Group Championships as amateur triathletes from across the British Isles descend on the Yorkshire town to fight it out for national honours.Attracting up to 1000 competitors, the event stands as one of the largest in the country, with the large uptake in participation demonstrating the strength and depth of both the sport’s growth and the Great Britain Age Group teams.

The swim is expected to be a chilly 18 degrees ensuring that wetsuits will be the order of the day, however competitors will soon warm up as the 40km cycle leg starts with a two mile climb out of transition.

Four laps of a newly resurfaced path around the lake will complete the race as athletes young and old alike will battle it out for those prestigious podium places and the ultimate honour of being crowned the British Age Group Champion.

Best of luck to all those participating.

If you liked this article, why not subscribe to TrispaceRSS Feed