So where do we start this week?

Welcome to another busy weekend in the world of triathlon!

Taking a queue from the film Jerry Maguire, Sunday's Hy-Vee BG ITU World Cup Des Moines really is a case of "show me the money!". A total of $700,000 in the prize purse, with the lucky winner's walking away with a cool $200,000, and we believe, a Hummer each... there's even a $5,000 swim prime. Big news is that it looks like the race will actually run as a triathlon after severe flooding and bacteria risk had meant conversion to a duathlon looked the likely outcome. For a handful of US athletes, the race is of supreme importance - while Sarah Haskins may have lost out on winning the World's in a sprint finish, she isn't as yet on the US Olympic team, and is battling Sarah Groff for the final spot alongside the selected Laura Bennett and Julie Swail Ertel. Likewise, Andy Potts and Hunter Kemper look like they will be battling to join Jarrod Shoemaker and Matt Reed in Beijing. Given the impact Haskins and Tucker had during the bike leg in Vancouver, we'd quite like to see Haskins make the team...!

For some though, this could well be their 'olympics', and we fully expect some athletes to have prepared and tapered for this event as their number one objective for the season. The only surprising absentees from the start list are Portugal's Vanessa Fernandes and Spain's Javier Gomez, though with Emma Snowsill back on World Cup duty, she must start favourite. Defending champions Rasmus Henning and Laura Bennett return, and will be joined by the full GB Olympic squad (Brownlee, Clark, Don, Avil, Tucker), plus Freeman, Hayes and Blatchford.

Live coverage of both races (1930 ladies, 2230 men) will be available on Sunday evening on the ITU's 'Tricast-Live!' service. Logon to www.triathlon.org

In Nice, our editor will be on-site at Ironman France. While recent history suggests that where he goes, Bella Comerford wins... that won't be possible, as she isn't racing in France! Race favourite, and winner of the past two editions, is Marcel Zamora Perez, who will likely be challenged by Hervé Faure, Rutger Beke and Jozsef Major. Ladies favourite is duathlon specialist Alexandra Louison (2007 winner), with Rebecca Preston, Katya Meyers and Katja Schumacher challenging. The popularity of triathlon to ex-pro cyclists is apparent, with France's Laurent Jalabert and Kai Hundertmarck looking to not just cycle well, but secure Hawaii spots too.

The other Ironman on the calender is Ironman Coeur d'Alene (Idaho, USA). Hard-as-nails Ukrainian athlete Victor Zyemtsev, last year's winner and a multiple Ironman winner will be favourite to retain his title. Britain's Toby Radcliffe is listed in the Pro start list.

Race day coverage of both events will be provided by the crew at www.ironmanlive.com

Adventure wise, it's a big weekend in Afan Forest Park, South Wales as it's the XTERRA UK Championship. With the championship distance event, plus shorter sport distance off-road triathlon on Saturday, and then the XTERRA UK Trail Half Marathon on Sunday, there's something for eveyone. Even better, we believe you can still enter! Check out their website.

Tomorrow (Saturday), the biggest race is probably the Dambuster Triathlon. We rated this event highly last year, and it always draws a large field. If Dambuster is the 'biggest', the 'longest' event of the day would appear to be the Accelerace West Highlands Ultra Triathlon. With an advertised 3.5 mile swim, 175 mile bike and 35 mile run, we assume it starts on Saturday because everyone will still be going well into Sunday! Other Saturday events include aquathlons at the Littlehampton Regatta and Ocean Fest Beach, while there is a sprint triathlon in Harwich.

Sunday sees a couple of championship events, with the British Army Standard Distance Champs in South Cerney, in conjunction with the South Cerney Classic, while the Welsh Championships are held at Parc Bryn Bach. After Saturday's sprint, it's a standard distance event on Sunday for Harwich. Worcester host the Top Barn Sprint and Standard Triathlons, while in Chester it's the Royles Deva Triathlon.

Elsewhere in Wales we have the Cerist Sprint Tri, while in Wiltshire it's the latest round in the ever-popular Fast Twitch Series this time in the beautiful town of Marlborough. In Essex we have the Walden Triathlon, and also the Jenny Clark try-a-tri in Ongar, while Berkshire hosts the AXLR8 Wellington triathlon in Crowthorne.

In the Brighton area is the East Sussex Fire and Rescue Service Triathlon, and not too far away is the Mid Sussex Triathlon at Burgess Hill. Moving further north is the Allenthorpe Sprint Triathlon in York, the Monkwearmouth Children's Triathlon in Sunderland and finally the Aberfeldy Sprint Triathlon in Scotland.

As always, we'll be doing our best to bring you all the race results and news first, so check back in to the site over the weekend and into Monday to see how you performed.