Less then 24 hours after the completion of the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games triathlon, the International Triathlon Union today announced an innovative new platform for the sport by establishing a pioneering new series that will take triathlon to new heights.

This is a great step forward for triathlon and it is exciting for triathlon to be moving in this direction. The benefit of live TV is it creates a proper season. People will know when to watch and when to tune into triathlon.

The new format will consist of six World Championship events plus a Grand Final every year, extending the current single World Championships event into a series. A major feature is the world’s best athletes will now consistently race head-to-head. World class venues in internationally renowned cities will be selected to host each World Championship event with guaranteed live international high-definition television offered.

For the first three years, the events programme will be scheduled on a monthly basis from March to September. In an Olympic year, the Grand Final will move to October or November. This provides the athletes, coaches, National Federations, sponsors and television broadcasters with a well planned stable schedule of high quality events.

Each World Championship event leading up to the Grand Final will seek to integrate a mass participation and youth element alongside the elite races. The ITU Age-Group World Championships will be staged at the annual Grand Final event along with Junior and Under23 competitions.

ITU has formed a partnership with a major international sports business to collaborate on a fresh and exciting new programme of events, the ‘ITU Triathlon World Championship Series’.

I think this new series is a fantastic way to enable athletes to showcase triathlon to the world. Even better is the incorporation of the various age-group championships into the ‘Grand Final’. In how many other sports can ‘amateurs’ rub shoulders on the start line with ‘the elite’?

Well done the ITU!!!

Click here to watch the ITU promo video.

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Great Britain’s Alistair Brownlee, a 20-year-old student at Leeds University, gave the world’s best triathletes a swim, a bike ride and a run for their money before finishing 12th in 30-degree temperatures at Ming Tombs reservoir earlier this morning.

However, at the front of the field a well-timed sprint from Jan Frodeno gave the German gold in a thrilling men’s triathlon race. He went clear with 50m to go to finish ahead of Canada’s Simon Whitfield and New Zealand’s Bevan Docherty, clocking one hour 48:53 seconds.

Alistair Brownlee, the second-youngest competitor in the 55-strong field, had been among the leading group for much of the run before fading to 12th place. Fellow Brit Will Clarke was two places behind Brownlee with Tim Don, suffering from a virus, failed to finish. Don, who had hoped to among the medals in Beijing, was struggling with illness in the build-up to the race and withdrew early.

Whitfield looked to have time his sprint finish to perfection, breaking from a group that included Frodeno, Docherty and pre-race favourite Javier Gomez of Spain. But Frodeno stuck with him and, with just 50m to the line, had the legs to out-sprint the Canadian to claim the gold.

It was a fitting end to a fantastic race in which Brit Brownlee more than played his part. The 20-year-old set the agenda on the 40km bike ride after a hugely impressive swim and looked in contention for a medal as he initially formed a six-man breakaway group in the 10km run.

But he just did not have the legs to keep up with the experienced Frodeno, Whitfield, Docherty, Gomez and Ivan Rana, falling off the pace with 7km to go, before crossing the line 86 seconds behind the winner.

Clarke was always playing catch-up after a disappointing 1.5km swim in a race which was competed in blistering heat.

You can watch highlights of the the men’s race here.

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Emma Snowsill claimed triathlon gold for Australia as she stormed to victory in Beijing earlier this morning. I managed the early 3am start to watch the event live on TV and what a spectacle it was. The quality in the field of athletes was just outstanding and along with the beautiful scenery surrounding the Ming Tomb Reservoir, the race was just magnificent.

The Commonwealth Games champion, 27, broke clear at the start of the 10k run and never looked like being caught as she won in one hour and 58.27 seconds.

Portugal’s Vanessa Fernandes won silver and Australian Emma Moffatt the bronze.

British world champion Helen Tucker came 21st while Hollie Avil, who has been struggling with a stomach bug, withdrew during the 40k bike ride.

Tucker had been in contention at the changeover from bike to run, having been in the lead group for much of the race. But Snowsill stormed clear and another breakaway group formed and Tucker struggled to match the pace. Tucker was hoping to add an Olympic medal to her World Championship win earlier this year.

The Welsh triathlete finished more than four minutes behind Snowsill but Avil, the 18-year-old national champion, could not cope with the punishing pace.

Shortly after Avil retired an eight-bike pile-up at the end of lap five dashed the hopes of Canada’s Laura Groves and Russian Irina Abysova as riders careered over the barrier and into each other at the hairpin stadium turn.

For Snowsill her victory made up for the pain of missing out on selection for the team to compete at the last Olympics in Athens four years ago.

You can watch highlights of the the women’s race here. Roll on the men’s race tomorrow morning!!

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This weekend London will once again welcome thousands of competitors pushing themselves to their limits as the Mazda London Triathlon hits town. This years event will be the event’s 12th anniversary and has become the largest triathlon in the world.

With an expected 30,000+ spectators lining the course, some of the world’s finest triathletes racing in the elite race, and over £1million raised for charity, the event has become an incredible experience for all involved.

The event takes place this weekend from Saturday 9th August – Sunday 10th August 2006. Events begin at 11am on Saturday and 6.30am on Sunday. Races start at the Royal Victoria Dock, Excel Centre.

Saturday 9th August AM

Youth Super Sprint
Male Super Sprint
Female Super Sprint
Saturday 9th August PM

Male Sprint
Female Sprint
Team Relays

Sunday 10th August AM

Junior Elite
Female & Female Elite
Male & Female Sub 230 (TBC)

Sunday 10th AM & PM

All other individual Olympic races – please note what order these races are scheduled is not decided until entries are closed!

The Triathlon Expo will be held at ExCel Centre, Docklands, from Saturday 9th August – Sunday 10th August.

It could be well worth a visit, if you’re not taking part in the event. The event itself is being broadcast on Channel 4 on Sunday 17th August at 8am.

Best of luck to all those taking part in the world’s largest triathlon !!! 

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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.

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British Triathlon has announced that funding has been made available through the Caudwell Children’s Charity “Enable Sport” grants programme, to fund adapted sports equipment for disabled children participating in competitive sport.

Junior triathletes living in the UK, up to the age of eighteen, have the opportunity to access funding to provide individually adapted wetsuits, handbikes, racingchairs and other equipment. Up to £3,000 funding grant is available to individuals, but not clubs.

There is no specified deadline for applications, but as funding is limited anyone interested should apply as soon as possible. For more information about the funding and application process, please contact Jan Warrilow on 01782 600266, or via email applications@caudwellchildren.com.

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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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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