<?xml version="1.0"?><rss version="2.0"><channel><title>Tri247</title><link>http://www.tri247.com/index.html</link><description>Latest articles from Tri247</description><item><title><![CDATA[Dillon brings Megaburn to the UK]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_3328.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Michelle Dillon may not have been racing much this year owing to her back problems, but she hasn&#039;t been sitting around idle! She is now part of the team that&#039;s bringing Australia&#039;s sporting nutrition secret, Megaburn, into the UK and is in the process of setting up a distribution network to get it out into sports shops. What follows is their launch press release:

Megaburn&rsquo;s functional food products has been a secret of many an elite athlete chasing an edge on the competition. Their range of products has assisted the likes of Michelle Dillon, Stuart Hayes, Emma Snowsill, Craig Walton, Emma Carney and Clint Robinson in achieving their goals and has become core component in each of their training and nutrition 
regimes.

Stuart Hayes Olympian and professional triathlete believes Megaburn is a cornerstone of his success and keeps him at the top of his field of endeavour. &ldquo;In the world of triathlon, you are presented with a vast array of supplements and products all promising the world. Megaburn is different. It works, I&rsquo;m addicted.&rdquo; he said.

Michelle Dillon, Olympian and professional triathlete understands the body and the need to put into it only the best fuel. &ldquo;It&rsquo;s a serious business, what goes in the mouth can effect performance in a big way. You need to become part chemist, part dietician and full time guard dog. I know when I use Megaburn products I am protected and I am only putting the right nutrients in to the body to maximise performance.&rdquo;

Australian Olympic Gold Medallist swimmer Neil Brooks has lost an amazing 52 kilograms since supplementing his diet with Megaburn products; Neil understands the commitment to succeed at an elite level but now swears by Megaburn not for its sporting benefits but more for the benefits it provides in dealing with a hectic life. &ldquo;At 46 years of age I thought my days of feeling fit and healthy were over, now age is just a number...thanks Megaburn&rdquo;!

Megaburn is an Australian-owned company which has been operating since 1997. Their focus is developing &#039;Functional Foods&#039; that deliver a natural approach to health and well being. Megaburn is one of the only companies that are dedicated to functional foods; these are products that contain &lsquo;bio active&rsquo; food components derived from natural resources such as calcium, folic acid, beneficial bacteria and plant sterols that are considered to assist in good health. Aside from their health benefits, functional foods offer other benefits including taste, packaging and convenience. Megaburn products contain a range of gluten and dairy free items, as well as having beneficial bacteria such as multi strain lactobacillus, which helps with nutrient absorption, increasing the production of vitamins, increases the resistance to disease and helps to prevent the development of colon cancer and candida. It also helps to maintain a normal balance in the lower intestines and kills yeast on contact.

The announcement of Megaburn&rsquo;s availability in Europe has the elite athletic world buzzing, but this unique product range has benefits to all interested in boosting health and wellbeing. For further details on Megaburn visit www.megaburn.co.uk]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Tri247 Gatorade Athlete of the Month]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_3330.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[





Welcome to a new feature on Tri247, supported by Gatorade (www.gatorade.co.uk). We know (because we have the statistics&amp;hellip;), that races and race results are one of the most popular and well used resources on the site, which thousands of you rely upon. In association with Gatorade, we&amp;rsquo;ll be profiling our Athlete of the Month from that information.

Our choice may be based on one, or perhaps a combination of factors including:

Outstanding performance at one race,
Consistent performances over a number of events,
Recognition of an athletes efforts over many months, years&amp;hellip;or even decades in some cases!
Overcoming setbacks, challenges or obstacles.


Or indeed, any other reason we can think of. We will also be asking you for your nominations.

As well as the recognition, each monthly winner will receive:

Six month&#039;s supply of Gatorade
A limited edition Gatorade bike top
Six Gatorade bike bottles
Two Gatorade gym bottles
A Gatorade towel
A personalised engraved plaque


At the end of the year, one athlete out of the twelve will be selected as the overall Athlete of the Year.






April 2008: Emma Dews 
Like last month, for April at least, duathletes rule! We&amp;rsquo;ve chosen Emma as the second recipient of our  Athlete of the Month following some excellent performances in April, which built upon more of the same in March. In early April, Emma won a freezing cold, and highly competitive Swindon Duathlon. She followed this up a week later with third place overall and age-group winner at the National Champs in Milton Keynes. And this was after winning Steyning and placing second overall at the Spring BallBuster in March - not bad for a girl who only started cycling in February 2007... 


We called Emma to find out more, and tell her the good news...&amp;quot;Wow, you&#039;ve made my day&amp;quot; was her first response. By day, Emma works as a marketing manager for Hasbro Toys, and so she&#039;s an expert in Play-Doh, amongst other pre-school toy products! As a US-based company this generally involves flying to Boston five times a year, plus various work trips into Europe and around the UK. So, this is an athlete with a real full-time job, and not an age-grouper living like a Pro. 

Surprisingly, her season didn&#039;t appear to be starting too well: a car crash in December 07, injuries, illness and then getting mowed down on her bike by ... a postman (!) had left her in need of massage, physio and lacking in confidence. &amp;quot;The postman incident was my first ever bike crash, and it took me a while to get confident on two wheels again&amp;quot;. Starting off with the BallBuster would not be most people&#039;s idea of easing your way into racing, but finishing second there was possibly her most important result of the year. &amp;quot;After everything that had happened, I had no idea what my fitness was like, and so to have a good race and finish second was really a great boost. BallBuster is such a tough race, a bit like the marathon, I think it&#039;s something you&#039;ll get better at with practice, so to do well first time was very pleasing&amp;quot;.

Surprisingly for someone with such speed, Emma doesn&#039;t come from a distinguished sporting background, and only rode a bike for the first time in February 2007; &amp;quot;When a friend from the running club convinced me to go on a Joe Beer triathlon training camp in Lanzarote - I loved it!&amp;quot;. Clearly a fast learner, in August last year she won a silver medal at the age group World Champs in Hungary. Her prior sporting background was running, which she started in 2002 with a challenge to run the New York marathon; &amp;quot;mainly because I was a bit drunk at the time&amp;quot;. Even then, she didn&#039;t get that serious about running until 2006. She increased her mileage to 30-45 miles per week, and in April 2007 recorded 3:01 at the London Marathon; &amp;quot;very annoying!&amp;quot;.

Enjoyment and fun is very important to Emma, which possibly explains why she hasn&#039;t swum yet this year; &amp;quot;I hate it!&amp;quot;. She trains around eight hours per week on average, which she has built up to gradually; &amp;quot;since I don&#039;t have the miles in my legs from years of training, it takes time to be able to cope with more&amp;quot;. She doesn&#039;t currently have a coach, but takes advice from friends and club-mates with experience, and hasn&#039;t to date been into the science side, though she has just bought a heart-rate monitor. This season she has also benefitted from a lovely new Pinarello bike, courtesy of the Thames Turbo / Sigma Sport team.

Emma feels her natural strengths will lie in endurance events, and her plans for the rest of the season include the World Long and Short Course Duathlon Champs, possibly a Powerman event, some Cyclosportives to build up some bike strength, the Cowman half-iron distance triathlon, running events and time-trials ... so she will certainly be a busy lady. Last season she finished a close second at the New Forest half-iron distance event; &amp;quot;which I loved&amp;quot;, and would like to go back, though as it falls a week before Rimini that may have to wait for this year, along with trying to qualify for the Florida 70.3 World Champs.



It was a very tough choice this month, and  honourable mentions, any of whom (and many more besides) who would have been worthy winners include:

Lee Piercy (The Big Adventure Store). Lee was a consistent name in your nominations - both for his speedy performances, and his positive attitude to racing. Last month&#039;s award winner David Vaughan described him as &amp;quot;real class&amp;quot;, which sums up his dominating win at the National Champs in Milton Keynes. An athlete consistently producing top results, perhaps not getting the recognition he deserves.
Juliet Vickery (Cambridge Triathlon Club). Juliet has been quietly dominating the ladies 45-49 age-group this year, but not only that, challenging right up at the front of races too. Fifth overall at the National Duathlon Champs, followed the same position last month at Clumber Park, both of which were Mazda National Series Events. This past week she won the Breckland 10km in a very swift 37:48 too.
Dave Mitchinson (Shorter Rochford/Exclusive Ranges). Dave has just entered the duathlon arena with possibly the best running credentials around; 29:22 for 10km and 64:22 for half marathon! His biking is not there yet, but he&#039;s made huge gains in every event he&#039;s done so far, including third overall and age-group winner behind Lee in Milton Keynes.


Do you know anyone who deserves this award? If so, tell us! Get in touch with us on aotm@tri247.com and tell us who you would like us to recognise and why.









]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Interview: Zara Hyde Peters]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_3321.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[It took a while to catch up with a Zara Hyde Peters to talk about her new role as CEO of the British Triathlon Federation, since taking up the post just over two months ago she hasn&#039;t had a lot of spare time on her hands. Some might ask, how will she fit into triathlon coming from an athletic background? Of course, athletics is similar to triathlon, after all running is very much part of triathlon, but most runners seem to think triathletes are a little crazy to say the least. Well Zara may come from a career in athletics, but her personality certainly fits well in triathlon, when I asked her how her 25-mile time trial went on Monday (she is planning to take part in some duathlons) she replied, &quot;well it would have been OK if I hadn&#039;t done a 10k road race on Friday, a five-mile cross-country race on the Saturday and run a hard two-mile relay leg on the Sunday&quot;! From a sporting point of view she certainly fits the bill and there&#039;s no doubt that she&#039;s found another sport that she&#039;s very passionate about, as I found out.



AE When did you first come across triathlon and what were your first thoughts about the sport that has now become very much part of your career?

ZHP I first became aware of the sport when a couple of triathletes started running well in road races, I also remember watching a World Cup on the TV and seeing Simon Lessing win. The memory that most stands out though was when I was watching the triathlon at the Sydney Olympics on TV and I just thought what an incredible venue and city, but above all, it just seemed to have the most amazing atmosphere.

AE You spent seven years at UK athletics and played a major role in supporting both Kelly Holmes and Paula Radcliffe at the Athens Olympics and you also went to the Commonwealth Games as a competitor yourself in the 10k. Looking over your sporting career so far, both personally and on a career level, you obviously have a huge passion for running, do you think you can turn the same passion you have for running into that level of passion for triathlon?

ZHP Well firstly, triathlon really is a performance orientated sport, which I really like. I&#039;m very motivated by performance sport and to be fair I even got passionate watching Manchester United beating Barcelona last night. I&#039;ll watch just about any high level sport, I&#039;m fascinated by it and I can get very excited about it, so actually, for me, triathlon is really interesting because it is so performance orientated. Even at age group level they are not taking this lightly, they&rsquo;re not just having a go, they&#039;re training hard and holding down full time jobs and lives; goodness knows how some of them do it.

I also think it&#039;s easy to get passionate about the individual athlete and that&#039;s really what it comes down to. When you think about working with British triathlon ultimately our shop window will be those individuals; like Will Clarke, Hollie Avil, Al Brownlee. At the moment  though, it&#039;s the Tim Don&#039;s. They are the people that really are the product of the sport that the sport should look up to. Will I have as much fun supporting them through an organization to reach their goals as I did with Kelly Holmes? Absolutely, it&#039;s just the same. So I guess in answer to your question, yes, I can be as passionate about triathlon as running.

AE Having spent seven years at UK athletics you obviously know Paula Radcliffe well. Considered by most as the greatest female runner Great Britain has ever seen, she is without a doubt hugely talented, but most would have to admit that her work ethic is second to none, how do you think her training regime compares to that of Great Britain&#039;s top triathletes?

ZHP It&#039;s probably a bit early for me to comment on this because I haven&rsquo;t spent a lot of time with the athletes, as yet. I&#039;ve seen one or two of the younger athletes and have been fortunate to spend some time and chat with Hollie. I&#039;m very impressed with her mental approach and I think she is probably as equally focused as Paula was at her age, but at that age, they can&#039;t quite be living the sport yet. For example; she&#039;s just returned home having achieved two remarkable podium finishes in only her first two ever World Cup races, but she&#039;s back to school on Monday and looking forward to it, she&#039;s got A levels soon and that&#039;s her main focus right now. Have I seen an example of athletes who could have the same work ethic as Paula? The answer is yes. Do I think we have someone who is already at the level where Paula is now? The answer is no, but I think we have people that have the potential to get where she is. Obviously it took her a number of years to get where she is and what&#039;s happening now is that sport is her life, so when she gets up in the morning everything she does that day is dictated by the impact it will have on her running, she wouldn&#039;t go shopping if it were detrimental to her running. It&#039;s a different mind set to a lot of athletes, but I do think we have athletes that the kind of potential to make that kind of commitment and the intellectual capacity to deal with the challenge of dedicating your whole life to sport.

AE So you&#039;re saying that the commitment needed to be a great athlete requires intellectual capacity as well as physical?

ZHP Well yes, it&#039;s actually very boring being that sport-focused and it is really hard work cutting yourself off from a lot of the norms of what your peers are doing, it takes a very tough and intelligent person to do that, but it&#039;s all part of a growing process, people have to grow into it. In general I&#039;ve been impressed with the intelligence triathletes use in their approach to what is a really challenging event. I think as an outsider of the sport I look at it as almost five events in one, you&#039;ve got a swim, a transition, a bike, etc. I&#039;m looking at transitions like a Formula One pit stop thinking they&#039;ve invested millions in just getting that bit right, they lose a second there and people&#039;s heads roll; the transition is an event in itself. If you start thinking about that technical aspect of the event you realise just what an intellectual challenge it is and how much the athlete needs to be able to think on their feet during the event.

AE Compared to running, there&#039;s a multitude of things that can go wrong, one small error and it could be game over?

ZHP Yes, from what I&#039;m learning you&#039;ve got to be prepared for a lot more eventualities. Before I came into sport I worked in the oil industry and when I was studying from for my MBA I did some research into how in the early 70s Shell revolutionised the oil industry when they introduced something called scenario planning, which at the time was considered very revolutionary in business management. The idea was that they locked a bunch of people in a room and thought about the most unlikely scenarios that could happen in their industry and what they would do in each incident. They thought of the most ridiculous things, such as what would happen if oil went from 100 dollars a barrel to five dollars a barrel, I mean things that you could never possibly envisage happening from where you were sitting. 

This approach is exactly the kind of approach needed for a sporting event, in particular the Olympics. You&#039;ve got one day, one chance to get it right. You can&#039;t have a good day the next day or the next week, so you have to plan for everything that could possibly happen on that day, even things you haven&#039;t even dreamt of yet. You just can&#039;t assume it will all go perfectly, because if you do, and it doesn&#039;t, and you haven&#039;t got a strategy to deal with it on the day, you could potentially be staring disaster in the face! That&#039;s why I think the Olympics in itself is quite a fascinating concept for a lot of sports people, because it is about being right on that day; you can&#039;t get that day to move for you, you have to be right on that day, at that time.

AE Interestingly you have taking a very similar career path to that of your predecessor, Norman Brook. Was this just purely coincidental?

ZHP In 2000 when Norman moved from UK Athletics to triathlon I took over from him as Technical Director for Endurance, which was his former position up until the Sydney Olympics. In 2003/4 I changed position to Head of Potential and was in charge of managing the whole World Class Potential Programme which was across all events. I still retained responsibility for Kelly and Paula though, as it was felt that it wasn&#039;t a great time to change their performance management line. After that I went on to the director role on the board looking after the whole athlete development pathway. I guess yes, you could say our paths did diverge in that respect, but this latest move following Norman again was purely coincidental.

AE Were you approached by the BTF to replace Norman?

ZHP No, when I heard that Norman was going to South Africa I contacted Sarah and asked her what the BTF was doing about replacing Norman. Partly because I was interested in triathlon and the opportunities it presented because I saw it as a challenging sport, and partly because I thought I&rsquo;d been in athletics for seven years and there&#039;s a danger that you can become stale. You start to become a little bit part of the system and I&#039;m not a big fan of people becoming part of the system. I thought it would be good for me to at least consider the opportunity. To be fair I don&#039;t think there was anything else that would have appealed to me in the same way. It would have to have been a sport that I felt really strongly about, and at a level of involvement where I could really influence change, and not many opportunities come along like that!

AE How instrumental do you think Norman was in moving the sport forward and what do you think is his greatest legacy to the sport?

ZHP Norman was an entrepreneur who had the vision to take the governing body organisation from a small house in Ashby to an established HQ in Loughborough alongside a well-resourced World Class programme operating in quality facilities.  He has overseen the modernisation of the sports structures and the introduction of commercial sponsorship to enable a high quality domestic events series that is now in its second year. The sport now has a good base on which to build for the future and to dream dreams; that is his legacy.

AE I imagine that after seven years of experience at UK Athletics, including playing a major role at both the Sydney and Athens Olympics, you must have quietly had your own agenda when you began your new career at the BTF?

ZHP I actually came in with a very open mind with a sense, probably from some early meetings that I&#039;d had with people, of the fact that there was a real appetite for moving on, building on what had already been achieved. There was also a real openness in the sport to ideas, which was a really nice environment to walk into. So no, the answer is that I didn&#039;t have my own agenda and the first couple of months in post were spent listening and taking things in.

AE Where do you see triathlon going and what are your future expectations of the sport? 

ZHP The sport is set to grow at all levels; our challenge working on behalf of the sport is to manage and foster that growth.  Moving from being the &#039;potential&#039; sport to a clearly performing sport is definitely an aspiration.  I would also hope to see a lot of discussion in the coming few months about the direction the sport is taking and how the objectives are best achieved.  This will all contribute to a clear vision for the sport in the next four to six years as we enjoy two home-based championships and the profile that goes with that.



Editor&#039;s note: Annie also asked Zara about her views on the ITU and other international aspects of the sport but, although Zara did answer those questions, the BTF has asked that we not include that part of the interview. In an election year for the ITU presidency, a role that GB may well have a significant interest in, it seems likely that there will be little in the way of comment until campaigning gets underway...
]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Meet the Shop: Bicycleworks]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_3334.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[




As part of regularly monthly feature supported by 2XU (www.2xu.co.uk), Tri247 is going to be going up and down the country introducing you to the shops and staff that work hard to give you access to lots of triathlon goodies! So, if you haven&amp;rsquo;t been to your local shop this is the ideal opportunity to find out a bit more about them and pop in and say hello!
This month we are in Edinburgh meeting the boys at Bicycleworks.





Andrew Davies and John Anderson started Scotland&#039;s first triathlon centre four years ago, knowing that triathlon was a fast growing sport. The tri shop is in the basement of a nutritional supplements store, ISO, in Edinburgh and has rapidly become a focus for the sport in Scotland.
As well as the Tri Centre, Bicycleworks has a separate service and repair
centre in Argyle Place and a website stocked with goodies. Triathletes and duathletes
sponsored by the shop regularly appear at the top of Scottish race results.









Shop Opening Hours

DayHours

Monday
10am - 5.30pm


Tuesday10am - 5.30pm


Wednesday10am - 5.30pm


Thursday10am - 5.30pm


Friday10am - 5.30pm


Saturday
10am - 5.00pm


SundayCLOSED

Bank Holidays
CLOSED





Brands stocked include:
2XU, Altura, Asics, Bell, Biemme, blueseventy, Bontrager, Brooks Saddles, Campagnolo,
Carnac, Castelli, Cat Eye, Cervelo, Colnago, Continental, Craft, De Feet, De
Marchi, De Rosa, Descente, DIDA, Easton, FELT, Fizik, FSA, Fulcrum, Giant, Giro,
Gore, Honey Stinger, Hutchinson, Ironman, Isaac, ITM, Kuota, Look, Mavic, Met,
Michelin, Nineteen, Northwave, Northwave, Orca, Polar, Profile, Profile, Richey,
San Marco, Schwalbe, Scott, Selle Italia, Shimano, SIS, Speedplay, Speedplay,
Time, Trek, Vittoria, Xero, Zipp


Things you might not know about Bicycleworks:

Scott is the father of Kirsty Balfour, she&#039;s an Olympic-level swimmer.
John has also been a multiple Scottish Team champion time trialist and mountain biker and has also managed one or two of Scotland&#039;s prominent cycling teams in the past.
He was the national Scottish Mountain Bike Team Manager for four years.
Andrew is a multiple Scottish Champion and has been a cycle mechanic for over 25 years



The Bicycleworks Triathlon Centre, (ISO Basement),
57-59 South Clerk Street, Edinburgh EH8 9PP
Website: www.thebicycleworks.co.uk&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Phone: 0131 662 8777
Tri Directory: www.tri247.com/resource_357.html






]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Weekend preview]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_3324.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Something of a rarity this week: no ITU BG World Cup race, no WTC Ironman race and no Ironman 70.3 series event either. Still, there&#039;s always the European Champs! 

Yes, the first major event where the GB Age Groupers depart en-masse to foreign shores this year for Team GB is the ETU European Triathlon Championships taking place this weekend in Lisbon, Portugal. First up on Saturday though are the elite Junior and Senior competitions. The ladies kick-off the day, and scheduled to line up we have Kerry Lang, Vanessa Raw, Jodie Swallow and Abbie Thorrington. Abbie earned her slot courtesy of a very courageous effort last month in Pontevedra, where the (almost) unthinkable happened and Vanessa Fernandes didn&#039;t win, or indeed finish! However, on home soil and looking for a fifth straight European title, our money is on everyone else fighting it out for silver this time behind one of the sports most dominant athletes. [Ed: we also hear that Ms Swallow, despite being listed on the BT site, may well not have made the trip, no reasons given as yet.]

On the men&#039;s side, Alistair Brownlee, Will Clarke and Richard Stannard have been given the chance to build upon what could be described as mixed seasons&#039; to date - injury niggles, crashes and bad luck have meant that despite glimpses, none of the three have really hit the heights they are capable of yet, and all will be looking for a confidence booster before the Olympic qualifying event in Madrid in two weeks time. That said, we believe only two of the three will make that Madrid pontoon, so perhaps someone may have a point to prove?! As with the women&#039;s event, Javier Gomez (ESP) is listed with start-number one, and if he does start, no one here is expecting him to finish anywhere other than on top of the podium. Being arguably the best swimmer AND runner in the sport, is a freakish combination. 

Age Group Team Manager Scott Murray reports that over 150 athletes are making the trip, and no doubt, come Sunday evening we&#039;ll be able to report on another large haul of medal winning performances, with plenty of bright new prospects and experienced medal winners on the team. 

Domestically, let&#039;s start with Aquathlon. Open Water Swim (www.openwaterswim.co.uk) host the first event of their series at Liquid Leisure, Datchet on Saturday morning, and we believe entries are available on the day. Sunday sees the latest round of the Triathlon London League taking place at the Morden 6n6, which manages to combine both imperial and metric in its 600-metre, 6-mile format! Still in the south, Crawley Tri Club are hosting their K2 Aquathlons for tristar, youth and adult categories. 

The cupboard would appear to be almost bare for duathletes this weekend, with the Ryton Tri/Hetton Hawks Tristar event being the only one we have listed. Let us know if we have missed any.

Triathlon-wise, speed would appear to be the key requirement as it&#039;s sprint distance (or less) everywhere...

Events in Hatch End/Harrow and Leicester will be hosting both adult and children&#039;s races, while Turriff and Exe Valley double up with both sprint and novice events.

Concept Sport&#039;s long standing Fast Twitch Series visits Dorchester, and always generates some rapid racing at the sharp end. Probably the largest event of the weekend, and claimed to be the largest pool based event in the country, is the Stratford 220 Triathlon, with well over one thousand starters listed. Another long-standing event is the Furzefield Triathlon (Potters Bar), which this year has a 400m, rather than 750m pool swim which, from our experiences there, should greatly enhance the event.

The Blaenavon Triathlon is celebrating 25 years, but this one could be the last. It&#039;s a tough event with the 28-mile bike having over 3,000 feet of climbs!

Elsewhere we should be seeing racing in Alnwick, Cleveland, Basildon (the off-road variety), Driffield, Harlech, Helston, Stromness, Wilmslow, Waveney Valley, Lydney, Selkirk and North Berwick. Phew!! ]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Maw's rugby dream is no more]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_3325.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[According to a story on the BBC Sport website it looks as though the former British Triathlon Performance Director has been moved on from his second position in the year since he left the world of triathlon. The wording in the story is quite interesting and suggests that his own review of the sport in Wales led to his demise.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Zoot sponsors Triangle]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_3326.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[A global leader in triathlon and multisports, ZOOT sports, has teamed up with Triangle International, the world&rsquo;s largest international Ironman production company, to sponsor six Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races world wide. As the official partner for Ironman events organized by Triangle, ZOOT becomes the official apparel and footwear sponsor for these 6 premier events. For both ZOOT and Triangle, the collaboration of strong partners promises to guarantee powerful brand exposure on a global level.
 
&ldquo;ZOOT and Triangle both share a strong passion for sport and for the athletes that compete in sport, which promises to make this partnership successful in the future. Triangle is proud to present, for the first time, a global partner for all our Ironman-labeled events on two continents!&rdquo; declares Georg Hochegger, CEO of Triangle international.
 
ZOOT and Triangle international signed a three-year agreement for the Ironman events in Austria, France and South Africa, as well as for the Ironman 70.3 events held in Austria, Monaco and South Africa. All events will feature and sell ZOOT performance apparel and footwear, all race apparel merchandise items will be produced by ZOOT, and athletes, team directors, volunteers and staff will be proud to wear the most technical and innovative multisport apparel in the world.
 
&ldquo;We continue to listen to our athletes and make no compromises to deliver the most premium multisport product in the world.&rdquo; said ZOOT&rsquo;s CEO Brian Enge. &ldquo;We are proud to offer triathlon specific products from head to toe, and with this partnership we will be present at Ironman events from Vienna to Port Elizabeth, from Klagenfurt to the C&ocirc;te d&rsquo;Azur and Monte Carlo.&rdquo; ]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Herbalife winners]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_3323.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Congratulations to Guy Bellamy and Francesca Wright who won the competition for places on this weekend&#039;s Herbalife Academy training session with Bill Black in Eastbourne. The organisers should already have been in touch to set up the trip for you. Enjoy the weekend and we would love to get a report!

]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[Charnwood Triathlon Club forms junior section]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_3322.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Charnwood Triathlon Club is launching a junior section and are holding taster events to encourage children aged 8 to 16 in the Charnwood area to get involved in triathlon. The sessions will be coached by their qualified CRB checked coaches. The next taster sessions will be on Friday 9th May at Burleigh College (5.30-7.30pm), Saturday 17th May at Rawlins College (1-3pm) and 
Saturday 24th May at Rawlins College (1-3pm). If this is something that might interest you or your children see the club&#039;s website (www.charnwoodtriathlon.co.uk) or email info@charnwoodtriathlon.co.uk for more information.]]></description></item><item><title><![CDATA[2008 duathlon preview]]></title><link><![CDATA[http://www.tri247.com/article_3277.html]]></link><description><![CDATA[Sadly, due to injury, European duathlon bronze medallist Tom Lowe, has been forced to take a sabbatical from training and racing. With slightly more time on his hands than what he&#039;s used to, Tom takes a look at what 2008 holds for Great Britain&#039;s top junior and senior duathletes.

 

With the 2008 duathlon season in full swing, now seems an appropriate time to reflect on how Britain&rsquo;s best duathletes are performing and what plans they have for the future. With all qualifying races staged and the European Duathlon Championships in Serres, Greece, now less than a month away, what can we expect this year, what new faces will you see racing and where will this take the sport?

2007 proved to be a hugely successful year for Great Britain&rsquo;s Senior, U23 and Junior teams alike. Over the standard distance the medal haul included a gold and two silvers at the World Championships and two golds, two silvers and a bronze medal at the European Championships. Add to this a gold and silver at the Long Distance Duathlon Championships and the word &lsquo;bling&rsquo; springs to mind.

This year sees some new faces making themselves known amongst the duathlon fraternity. With some of the more experienced racers trying to keep injuries at bay and motivation high, this year may be seen as a transitional year for the elite level of the sport in this country.

Starting with the men&rsquo;s team familiar faces on the UK club-running scene Phil Wylie and Dave Mitchinson are making substantial improvements every race they enter. Phil has recently been crowned National Champion and is also riding for French team Les Tritons Meldois in the French Grand Prix Duathlon series. Having competed in this last year myself I developed as an athlete no end and I&rsquo;m sure Phil will benefit too. Although his duathlon career can be measured in weeks, with personal bests of 14.04 for 5km and 29.23 for 10km, anyone dismissing Dave Mitchinson in the years to come may be a little short sighted. France-based Richard Hobby an ex pro cyclist, is also a rising star within the sport whose results on the continent have earned him a place on the team for the European Championships.

Other regular seasoned campaigners Oli Mott, Phil Anthony and Matt Moorhouse are coming into form. Not forgetting to mention Kairn Stone, who is concentrating on running at the moment, however he can&rsquo;t be ruled out for the World Championships later in the year, should he decide to spend some time in the saddle. Oli placed second at the National Championships, and although Phil became a victim of the extremely tough racing conditions at Tredegar, enough was done to prove his fitness and be selected for the European Championships. Oli and Matt will also have an eye firmly fixed on this year&#039;s Long Distance races culminating with the World Championships in Geel, Belgium on 10th August. Lee Piercy who has made steady improvement over the last few years at age group level may also join them. Lee earned a gold medal in the long distance event last year, in a time that would have placed him well up the elite field.

Should double World Champion Paul Amey and U23 Alistair Brownlee decide to hang up the wetsuits for the weekend and compete in either the World or European Championships this year both will raise their fellow competitors pulses. However, being Olympic year it will understandably be far from their main focus and only time and Olympic qualification will tell as to their race plans for the future season.

As well as sidelining myself for the whole of this season, injury is also playing a part in the GB women&rsquo;s team. Oddly the current European Champion Catriona Morrison, Michelle Lee and come to think of it myself have all had injuries of the right knee that have required surgery. Coincidence? Readers, look after that right knee now please! Cat has had plica syndrome and a fissure in her femur that will rule her out of the European Championships, however she is hoping to make a return at the UK 70.3. Michelle Lee had a 2cm lump removed from the synovial cavity in her right knee in January, however she recently won the European Powerman Championships in Holland so is well on the way back to form. Michelle&rsquo;s plans now that she is a full time athlete include 70.3 and possibly an Ironman with a look forward to qualifying for Kona. On the subject of injuries, and temporarily back on to the men&rsquo;s team, I shall briefly mention that I have partially ruptured my patella tendon and have a substantial tear in my already none too healthy cartilage. Surgery has been performed so expect to see me back in 2009.

Previous World Champion and last year&#039;s Silver medallist Michelle Dillon is always a force to be reckoned with. Early season illness has affected the start of her triathlon season but she is looking forward to racing again soon. The World Duathlon Championships are late enough for any injuries and illnesses to have been treated and remedied, however it is unsure whether she will be on the start line in Rimini in late September. Michelle is currently spending her time on a new business venture and also coaching Stuart Hayes who has had a solid start to the ITU season with a commendable 12th at Mooloolaba amongst a very high class field and most recently a ninth at New Plymouth.

Undoubtedly the most consistent performing athlete over Long Distance Duathlon over the last few years, Michelle Parsons has yet again got her season off to a superb start with a third at Powerman Holland that also doubled as the European Powerman Championships. Quite how Michelle fits all of the training into an already busy family and work schedule and still performs to the level that she does has to be admired and is a lesson to us all. Ironman is also on the cards for Michelle this year as she is looking to qualifying for Hawaii in her age group at Austria. Add to that numerous other Powerman races including Zofingen and you have to wonder where the energy for it all comes from.

Felicity Hart&rsquo;s bike prowess and improving running ability has rightfully earned her a place in the team for Greece. The newly crowned National Champion may prove to be very good over the longer distances should she ever decide to go down that particular route.

Moving on to the Juniors and U23 a new face to look out for and cheer on is Matt Gunby. This year sees him as one of the U23 representatives for the European Champs. Matt who has posted a sub 31 minute 10km time and recently come second behind Adam Hickey at the Southern U23 cross country championships has been giving the senior men a run for their money in the early races this year even though he&rsquo;s at the bottom of his age group. Promising triathlete Todd Leckie will join Matt in the European Championships U23 team.

Sophie Coleman, last years Junior European Champion, is returning from injury after a superb cross country season however will miss this years Championships. Vicky Graves will be the sole representative in the Junior Women&rsquo;s race in Greece this year.

Jeremy Gilmore is also one to look out for having just won the London Mini Marathon against a very good field. The Trafford runner also placed fifth in February&rsquo;s U20 National cross Country Championships and Jonathan Brownlee may be seen toeing the line in Rimini triathlon schedule permitting. Tom Bishop will be joining Jeremy on the start line for this year&rsquo;s European Champs.

With new athletes coming to the fore more than previous years GB duathlon is looking more promising than ever. Talent needs time to grow and the invaluable racing experiences that are the GB qualifying races as well as the three major championships will aid athletes in their pursuit of sound results. The fact that it is Olympic year may stop some of the triathletes from competing in the European Champs but with the World Championships being in late September a few familiar faces may appear on the start line. ]]></description></item></channel></rss>