Out in Des Moines, Iowa at the Hy-Vee BG World Cup the course proved a lot tougher than many expected and the heat, humidity and high winds didn't help any either. Still, if you wanted a share of that $700,000 you are going to have to expect to work hard in the womens race a group of eight established a 2:46 lead on the bike. From this group the trio of Bennett, Luxford and Sweetland set about the run with a purpose while the chasers began to drop like flies. Current World Junior Champion, Sweetland, dropped, literally, with just 1k to go and Mariana Ohata (BRA) stormed through on the day's fastest run split to bridge the gap. With just a couple of hundred metres to go Laura Bennett (USA) broke away to claim the $200,000 first prize with Annabel Luxford (AUS) holding off Ohata for second. Andrea Whitcombe made it into fifth (she wasn't showing up at all on the live timing) with ex-Brit Jess Harrison (FRA) in sixth and Michelle Dillon in 10th.

In the mens event there was no swim break-away and 41 athletes hit the bike course within 30 seconds. Matt Reed (USA) tried a break on the bike but his 30 second gap was closed down by a group of six athletes including Rasmus Henning (DEN) and Simon Whitfield (CAN) who then established a minute lead into T2. From here it was Henning and former Olympic gold medalist and recent Vancouver World Cup winner Simon Whitfield (CAN) who began to try to run away with the race. Henning stayed at the front to claim his $200,000 as a faltering Whitfield was passed by Bevan Docherty (NZL), Javier Gomez (ESP), Tim Don and Greg Bennett (AUS) in the closing metres. Paul Amey was 11th, Stuart Hayes was 13th and Andrew Johns 30th. (Full results and video from the race are on the ITU website)

At the European Duathlon Championships in Edinburgh, the legend that is Benny Vansteelant (BEL) took a leaf out of Catriona Morrison's book and blew a three minute gap in the field on the bike leg. He took an easy win in 1:56:26. The resulting scramble for second and third saw Tom Lowe come through the field and pass Benny's brother, Joerie, so saving one place on the podium for GB. Rob Woestenborghs (BEL) was second in 1:56:54 and Tom's time was 1:56:58. Bart Aernouts (BEL) won the U23 event.

The elite and U23 women's results give a win to Catriona Morrison in 2:11:31 with Vodickova Radka (CZE) in second on 2:15:59 and Alexandra Louisin (FRA) was third in 2:16:02. Fourth woman home was the only U23 woman, Charlotte Gauchet (FRA). Catriona's tactics, and she did have a significant home advantage, were to break the field on the bike and her four minute advantage at T2 showed that those middle-of-the-night sessions riding the route the 'wrong way' really did pay off. (Full results are here

In the Junior race the womens result went to Sophie Coleman with Kirsty McWilliam second and Alexa Giussani (ITA) in third while the mens title went to Joao Silva (POR) with Mark Threlfall second and Oscar Vicente (ESP) in third. Extra brownie points to McWilliam as she crashed on the first lap, sorted herself out and rode back up though the field to get that second place. ( Full results are here)

Peter Holmes, the BTF's Media Officer, reported that the conditions were very wet for the age group race in the morning with some slipping and sliding. It was very windy as well, so back wheels were stepping out quite a lot… the descent from Arthur’s Seat was apparently a lot of fun! The weather improved as the day progressed and it stopped raining and the wind had dropped of the elite.

The results for both the age group duathlon and the sprint triathlon up in Edinburgh are now online. Good to see Tri247 columnist Bob Holloway making it round safely, we are looking forward to a report early next week. The overall medal haul implies that this was a bit like Swansea in that there weren't that many foreigners interested in making the trip - duathlon just doesn't seem to be that big a draw and, as someone commented on TriTalk, it must have been a horrible shock for anyone from the southern European countries as the weather was definitely not summer-like!

At the Nokia Royal Windsor Triathlon the Saturday was speckled with the odd shower while people registered and racked but the race itself was in pretty much ideal conditions -- certainly not the blistering heat of the past two years. After 18 years in and around the sport you always think that you've pretty much seen it all so the sight of a sprint wave competitior heading out to the swim wearing their wetsuit inside out was, actually, not all that unusual. What was an all time first, however, was seeing a couple of guys struggling with a mate's wetsuit at the start which appeared to have stuck to itself in all sorts of places and was being shredded as they struggled with it. The owner of the suit went into the swim and we asked his friends what the problem was, "Oh, he washed it." was the reply. Washed it in what, we enquired. "The washing machine!" was the very unexpected answer... People, neoprene is not suitable for washing machines!!!

As far as the elite event went, Richard Stannard finally got his dream and won his local race -- but he had to work for it. He and Harry Wiltshire led out of the swim and had a clear 30 seconds at the exit on T1, an advantage that they held through the bike and onto the run -- at which point Stannard lit the blue touchpaper and left like a rocket. Of course, as we all know from November 5th parties, rockets only have a finite amount of fuel and it was going to be an interesting game to see how far Stan would make it down the road before the young guns and hopefuls started to make inroads. As it turned out he was home and free but Ritchie Nicholls, who did roughly the same a week ago at the Corus race in Wales, showed that being a duathlete isn't too much of a handicap and steadily chewed into Stannard's lead taking 20 seconds off on laps two and three and came home a very solid second. That lad has very definite potential if someone can get his swim sorted out... Steve Worthington stole third place, Harry Wiltshire couldn't hold off the attackers on the run and placed fourth, while 1993 winner, Colin Dixon, proved that triathlon really is a lifetime sport and took fifth.

The ladies race was going to go only one of a limited number of ways and Sam Herridge, who placed 11th at Windsor last year, took up the challenge from the off by leading out the swim by over a minute which she converted into a three minute lead into the run. And, as far as the win was concerned, that was that because she never looked challenged right through to the end - one very happy lady. The chasing group of four now had to battle to decide the honours Yvette Grice stepped up for second place, overtaking Karen Sindall on lap three of the run with Karen closing out the podium in third. Eloise Crowley and Jodie Stimpson completed the top five. The one question in our mind, and we'll need to check the times when they come through is, if that really was the Nicole Best we think it was who shot past in the age group wave, would she have been up with the winners if she had raced elite... (Full elite results are here)

So, not a vintage Windsor in terms of racing but certainly one with lots of flavour and interest. We have put a collection of images up on our PicasaWeb site for your amusement. The elite racing may have been a little predictable in terms of the likely winners yet the racing was actually a bit more interesting as a result of that because there were so many talented potential athletes who might have come good on the day and who we knew so little about. The proceedings certainly kept Steve Trew occupied as the commentator although he, like our Editor, never did see much in the way of cups of tea appearing! (Full results are here for the sprint and here for the standard distance)

And, talking of results, our resident statistician, John Levison, commented that the fastest Elite (drafting) bike was 1:01:27 (Ritchie Nicholls) while the fastest age group (hopefully non drafting) was veteran Laurence Harding in 1:01:09. John actually predicted this one before the race, Laurence did a 49:17 '25' the day before London Triathlon last year... The apparent winner of the age group race, Peter Boddy in 2:00:09, would be one of the fastest ever Windsor age group times and we suspect it may be bogus, the lack of splits being a clue.

Somerset, or at least the Wimbleball area, seemed to be a complete communications blackspot and we only started to get news of the UK Ironman 70.3 race once it was all over and people were driving away. Performance of the day was undoubtedly Julie Dibens who blitzed the swim and overall course records to win in 4:49:28 - and apparently did all but ten miles of the bike on a broken set of tribars! Katja Schumacher was second in 4:57:09 and Michelle Lee was third in 4:59:23. We also hear that Julie wasn't the only athlete with mechanical issues, Chrissie Wellington broke her left shift lever and had to ride the whole course in the big ring - but she made up the deficit with the fastest run leg and made it back up to fifth. In the mens field Fraser Cartmell saw off the opposition with a solid 4:24:32, James Gilfillan was second in 4:26:12 and Paul Ambrose was third in 4:26:36. Britain's long distance couple, Stephen Bayliss and Bella Comerford, both finished in fourth place. (Full results are here and as soon as we can get it onto Google TV you'll be able to watch some video we shot at the race )

Ironman Japan was almost totally dominated by athletes from the Asia/Pacific region, the male winner was Park Byung Hoon(KOR) in 8:46:32 with Naomi Imaizumi (JPN) taking local honours in 9:44:11 over the potential favourite, Kate Major (AUS). You can track the race on the IronmanLive website.

At the Schliersee ITU European Cup race in Germany it wasn't Faris Al-Sultan who took the win but Pavel Simko (SVK), Faris had to make do with second. Grant Fillmore was 16th and Oliver Howton 18th.

After three days of non-stop tornado type conditions in Mansfield with one month's rainfall arriving in less than a day, race day at the Mansfield Sprint Triathlon was surprisingly sunny. In the men’s event, it was a new name, but the same team at the top of the leader board, Mark Couldwell (TFN 2XU RT) won in 0:44:41 followed by Tom Curtis (Loughborough Students). In the women’s event, it was a repeat of the Southwell Sprint Triathlon results, with Lou Collins (TFN Tri Club) winning in 0:51:36 ahead of teammate Verity Butler in 0:53:33. We are waiting on a set of results with splits to upload.

The Falmouth Aquathlon was won by Nathan Jolly (tri logic) and Jenny Rice. 41 people took part in the 1500m sea swim and 10km run at Gyllyngvase Beach, Falmouth. (Results are here for the full distance and here for the sprint distance