For the first time current ITU world champion Flora Duffy’s home country Bermuda will host a World Triathlon Series event in 2018
Advertisement
Bermuda Tourism Authority and the International Triathlon Union (ITU) have signed a three-year contract to host World Triathlon Series events, the first of which is on 28 April 2018.
ITU has already inspected and approved the race course for the World Triathlon Bermuda. Sprint and standard distances will offer a swim in the crystal clear Atlantic Ocean, a challenging bike course over hilly terrain and a run along the picturesque Front Street with its colourful buildings in the centre of Bermuda’s capital Hamilton.
Flora Duffy said: “Bermuda is my home, a place that I am drawn to, it’s where I belong and I am excited to welcome triathletes to an island that is set apart by its location and way of life. Bermuda is about the people you meet, and a land that has its own mystique.
“But whilst Bermudians are welcoming, remember that Corkscrew Hill is an absolute beast on the bike and I will look forward to taking it on against the best in the world. They will need to be at their best to catch me. It looks like a snake climbing a wall and is so narrow and technical that we will have to race up single file. Add local crowds cheering on either side and the atmosphere will be spectacular, these are the memories we will all treasure as athletes.”
Advertisement
Bermuda Tourism Authority CEO Kevin Dallas said: “Our warm climate in April offers perfect conditions for racing. We invite triathletes to enjoy some early season training, kick off their race calendar and bring their friends and families to relax on our pink sand beaches.”
Nearly 2,000 participants are expected to take part at the event, which takes place on 19 August at Dorney Lake.
Advertisement
Big, bold and gutsy, the trailblazing event is being broadcast by Channel 4 and will see more than 20 Paralympians and TV personalities, from David Weir to the Last Leg’s Adam Hills, joining in the fun. They are taking part to show their support for a series that removes restrictive rules and regulations that can prevent or deter people with disabilities from taking part in mass-participation events.
Superhero Tri is looking for a force of ‘Super Sidekicks’ (volunteers) to create an all-round sensational experience for everyone involved.
There are plenty of noble roles that need to be filled at the debut event, which is based at the world-class Olympic and Paralympic rowing venue Dorney Lake, in Windsor.
“Our Sidekicks are crucial in helping us to make this a fantastic day out for everyone,” says Paralympian and Superhero Series founder Sophia Warner.
“We already have a 100-strong Sidekick force signed up, which is fantastic, but we want to double that number! There are roles for absolutely everyone, whatever your experience or skill set, and we’d really love to encourage people with disabilities to volunteer and help us make this a truly awesome event. If you fancy making a difference, doing some celebrity spotting and being part of something quirky and fun, this is the event for you!”
To join Superhero Tri’s super Sidekicks, visit www.superheroseries.co.uk/sidekicks-volunteers.
Super Sidekick roles needed:
Registration Sidekicks: based at the hub of this well-oiled machine, these Sidekicks set the super-charged tone as they greet Superheroes, oversee registrations and administer race packs and info to ensure everyone is ready for action
Bag Drop Sidekicks: stationed in the drop zone, these bionic bag handlers will take in and ticket up bags swiftly and smoothly, giving our Superheroes a hassle-free lead up to the mission’s star.
Course Sidekick: these super-efficient marshals will keep our three course stages running like clockwork. They will be sending waves off at the right times, keeping the course clear, directing the way and using all their persuasive powers to encourage our Superheroes towards their mission’s end.
Finish Line Sidekick: The first people to greet our Superheroes as they cross the line, these guys need stellar lungs and a super-watt smile. They will make sure the finishers cross the timing mats before sending them on to the transition areas to let the celebrations commence.
Up-For-Anything Buddy Sidekick: for all-round sporting supermen and women who are game to assist our Superheroes over any distance or stage – or even multiple missions if need be. If a team is a man down at the last minute, we hope you will be ready to step in and save the day.
Swim Buddy Sidekick: a super-competent swimmer, you will be asked to bring your wetsuit and goggles ready to dive in and help guide and accompany your Superheroes in the open water. Rest assured there will be a full water safety team on hand. Your goal is to instil confidence and keep spirits high.
Bike Buddy Sidekick: our spin doctors will be asked to come prepared with their own wheels and will accompany our superheroes and generally chivvy, coax and cheer our knight riders on their way
Push/Run Buddy Sidekick: these lucky buddies will be pushing or accompanying our Superheroes for the glory push/run home and using all their persuasive powers to encourage them towards their mission’s end
The Series will feature a number of events, including:
Mass-participation triathlons and triathlon relays over three distances (sprint, half and full). Non-disabled friends and family can participate in the relay provided one relay team member has a disability.
Sidekick Tri – a unique triathlon where those with disabilities can be propelled around the whole course.
They can be towed round the swim and pushed and pulled around the bike and run stages.
Advertisement
Celebrity Superhero Tri with team captains recruiting teammates to join them on a triathlon relay team
Challenge Family’s middle distance championships, held in Samorin, Slovakia will be live streamed on its website tomorrow, so people can watch all the action live from 8.30am (British time).
Advertisement
The elite field of male athletes competing at The Championship include Alistair Brownlee (GBR), Richard Varga (SVK), Richard Murray (RSA), Lionel Sanders (CAN), and Sebastian Kienle (GER), while the women’s field include Lucy Charles (GBR), Emma Pallant (GBR), Erika Csomor (HUN) and Annabel Luxford (AUS).
Challenge CEO, Zibi Szlufcik, said: “Challenge Family knows that triathlon fans like to follow important races live. We are thrilled to be able to showcase our flagship The Championship event at x-bionic® sphere ensuring that we set a new standard in triathlon. Live streaming the event will not only showcase best pro line and the talented athletes racing, but it will also highlight the incredible venue.”
This new middle-distance championship is for professional and age-group triathletes alike, and has been organised by Challenge Family. To ensure racing is fair for all a 20 metre draft rule has been implemented on the bike leg.
For professional athletes the event will carry a minimum €150,000 professional prize purse, and professional athletes will be able to qualify for The Championship via Challenge Family events worldwide.
Professional athletes who finished in the top five at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, in the top three in the 2016 World Triathlon Series, at the 2016 ITU Long Distance Championship, 2016 Ironman World Championship or 2016 Ironman 70.3 World Championship have also been invited.
Britain’s Lucy Charles has been crowned the winner of Challenge Family’s inaugural The Championship 2017 at Samorin, Slovakia.
Advertisement
More than 900 competitors from 57 nations lined up alongside the Danube River – in the shadow of the incredible x-bionic® sphere, and conditions were favourable with light winds and a temperature of 20 – 28°C.
The elite women’s line-up included Heather Wurtele (CAN), Annabel Luxford (AUS), Emma Pallant (GBR) and Lucy Charles (GBR) – fresh from her win at Ironman Lanzarote.
Charles took an early lead, exiting the water 25 secs in front of Luxford, followed by Salthouse (+ 01.26). However out on the bike leg, Luxford took the lead with Charles dropping down to third place, whilst Kimberly Morrison (GBR) put in a strong performance to climb up to second place 45km into the bike leg.
Entering T2 it would be Kimberly Morrison (GBR) in first, Luxford (AUS) in second and Wurtele (NZL) in third.
On the run course, Morrison started with a 53 second lead, but after a dominant start to her run, Luxford took, what seemed at the time, a comfortable lead. Within the first 5km of the run, Wurtele had climbed up to second place to continue to reduce the gap between herself and Luxford, with Charles emerging on both their tails.
Charles put in a spectacular run and in the last kilometre stole the lead, crossing the finish line in an impressive 04.14.32.
Advertisement
Charles said: “I can’t believe it. I could see that I was closing the gap on the run, but I didn’t expect to claw in the race win. Epic course, epic race and I really am over the moon. I think the 20m draft rule is great, and certainly works in my favour.”
OMG!! What a race! Loved it! Super exciting racing with classy ladies! Unreal to take the win
The study, which comprised an in-depth quantitative survey of 5,529 triathletes and multiple trade interviews, found that the UK’s growing population of 150,000 triathletes, up 7% on 2015, are now spending an average of £2,970 per year on the sport.
Advertisement
Since London 2012, the areas driving growth included wetsuits (up 137%), sports nutrition (up 82%) and event entries, travel and accommodation (up 67%).
Wetsuit sales, benefitting from the growth in the popularity of open water swimming alongside triathlon, increased 13% last year, with 72% of those surveyed having bought a new wetsuit within the past three years.
The growing adoption of sports nutrition, up 15% year on year, as a training and race aid was evidenced by 75% of respondents now using nutrition products at least once per week.
The economic uncertainty introduced by June’s Brexit vote was unable to stop the industry growing by 4.4%* overall in 2016. Whilst the ‘big ticket’ purchasing of bikes did suffer, down by 7%, triathletes seemed to console themselves by travelling overseas to race, with 24% racing outside the UK last year.
Despite triathlon no longer being the new kid on the block, its grassroots still look in good shape with 37% of those questioned having started their first race in the last three years. Running is still the primary source for new starters, with 56% of new triathletes having previously been runners.
Mel Berry, TIA Chair said: “For a niche yet constantly evolving sport like ours, this annual study is hugely important; it provides us with a detailed understanding of our community, and the trends affecting them, which gives us the vital confidence to make informed decisions, both individually and collectively. I would like to extend a big thank you to all of the 5,529 survey respondents and to the trade representatives who helped fine-tune the report.”
Advertisement
For more information about TIA: http://www.triathlonindustryassociation.org/
4x Kona champ Chrissie Wellington has announced she will be running Heineken Race to the Tower, a double marathon along the Cotswolds Way, on 10th June.
Advertisement
“I’m really excited about this new adventure, but I have to admit to being slightly daunted too. The HeinekenRace to the Tower is a huge, huge challenge for me,” she says.
“An ultra is something I said I would never do and I’m quite worried that I may not even finish. I did run the London Marathon in April, which was a fantastic experience and I really enjoyed having a sporting goal again – even if I’m not as fast as I used to be. I’m still not sure what came over me, but I decided to Google ultra races soon after crossing the finish line. I blame post marathon delirium.
“In terms of race strategy I don’t really know what to expect but I have asked a few, experienced ultra runners for their advice, and the consensus seems to be: take a slower pace, fuel relatively early on and walk the hills. And, most importantly, enjoy it!”
Advertisement
The Heineken Race to the Tower is a double marathon that runs from Gloucestershire to Worcestershire. The route takes in some quintessentially English villages and landmarks, including Winchcombe, Painswick and Sudeley Castle, before finishing at Broadway Tower in Worcestershire.
This Sunday the fourth leg of the WTS takes place in Leeds and all British hopes will be on the Brownlees in men’s elite race, hoping they can repeat last year’s success of a one-two.
Advertisement
This year Ali Brownlee has been focusing on the longer 70.3 distances and Jonny has had a disappointing start to the season with bike crashes and injuries, but both will be hungry for a win in their home city.
Ali said: “I’m obviously really looking for to racing in Leeds, I couldn’t miss my home race. The atmosphere in the crowds in the city centre was magical last year, so hopefully there will be even more people turn out this year, and they’ll shout even louder.”
Jonny said: “I’ve had a bit of an unlucky start to the year, but if I want to do well in the Series I have to do well in Leeds. So hopefully it will start well on Sunday, and hopefully I can finally beat Alistair in a big race.”
And it would be foolish to rule out Tom Bishop after his second place in the opening round in Abu Dhabi in March. Gordon Benson, Adam Bowden and Scots, Marc Austin and Grant Sheldon complete the British male line up.
Hoping to keep the British men off the podium in Leeds will be Olympic bronze medallist Henri Schoeman (RSA) and Fernando Alarza (ESP) who is presently lying second in the WTS rankings.
The men’s line up
In the women’s Leeds-based Non Stanford, who finished fourth in Rio last summer, is arguably Britain’s biggest challenge to ITU world champion, Flora Duffy who finished second last year behind Gwen Jorgensen.
However, it was super-fast swimmers and cyclists, Jess Learmonth and Lucy Hall who made the best start with Duffy last year. They are back this year along with ETU Triathlon European Champion, India Lee and recent ITU World Cup winner, Georgia Taylor-Brown.
Women’s start list
WTS LEEDS OURSE PROFILE:
The 1.5km swim will take place in the Roundhay Park Lake, located approximately 9km north of Leeds city centre. The 40km bike leg will see athletes leave Roundhay Park and head into the city centre and complete a full loop that leads back into the Park before finishing in T2 in the city centre. The 10km run course will take you on a city centre loop which will take you past iconic landmarks such as Town Hall, Millennium Square and The Headrow.
Advertisement
Both races will be live on BBC2 on Sunday 11 June with the women starting at 13:00 and the men’s at 15:45. You can also follow the action @220Triathlon or watch it on triathlonlive.tv if you’re not in the UK
The ITU have announced that the triathlon mixed relays have been included on the programme for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The International Olympic Committee announced that this new event joined a selection of other new events, including basketball 3×3, archery mixed team event, 4×400 mixed relays in athletics, BMX freestyle park, Madison in cycling, team events in fencing, mixed team event in judo, mixed doubles in table tennis and 4x100m medley mixed relay in swimming.
Advertisement
In August 2020, the Odaiba Marine Park in Tokyo will host the third triathlon event during the next Olympics, giving triathletes the possibility to earn another Olympic medal. The mixed relays will represent a catalyst on the promotion of women athletes within all NOCs around the world, as it completely fulfils the Agenda 2020 requirements.
Marisol Casado, President of ITU and IOC Member, said: “We are absolutely delighted with this decision. We’ve been pushing for the Mixed Relays to be included in the programme for quite a long time, as it is an event that gives the sport something very important: a sense of team building. But most important, is an event that demonstrates that women and men can compete together but both are equally important to the success of the team.”
IOC President, Mr Thomas Bach, said: “The fascinating new events that we approved today, together with the five new sports that were added to the Tokyo 2020 programme last year, represent a step-change in the Olympic programme. I am delighted that the Olympic Games in Tokyo 2020 will be more youthful, more urban and will include more women”.
The mixed relays is one of the most thrilling events in triathlon, with teams of two men and two women completing each a short-course triathlon (300m swim, 8km bike, 2km run) before tagging off to their teammate to take over. With its rapid and unpredictable format, athletes love it and spectators enjoy it both onsite and on television, making it one of the most spectacular formats of the circuit.
With no extra athletes needed to be added to the Olympic Programme, and lots of extra excitement ensured, the mixed relays are also backed by triathlon fans and event organisers around the world.
Advertisement
“It will be amazing if we could have two opportunities to get a medal at the Olympic Games,” said Olympic champ Gwen Jorgensen.
There can be no doubt WTS Leeds belonged to Flora Duffy from Bermuda. Heading into the fourth leg of the World Triathlon Series in Leeds, fresh from her win in Yokohama she would be the one to beat, but no-one could guess how much she would dominate the race.
Advertisement
Britain’s Jess Learmonth took the lead early in the 1.5km swim, which took place in the Roundhay Park Lake, with Non Stanford 18 secs behind at the end of the first swim lap. She would hold and extend this lead through the second lap, and exited the swim first, with Flora Duffy in fourth, and Non Stanford in 18th, about a minute down.
Always a strong cyclist Learmonth set out on the bike leg with a mission to prove, however this lead was short-lived as on hearing how far back Stanford was, she decided to hold back to help get Stanford back into contention.
Flora Duffy then made her move and before the first bike lap was over she was part of a leading group of four that included Alice Betto (Italy), Maya Kingma from The Netherlands and Taylor Spivey from USA.
This group meant business and increased their lead every lap, from 01:05 after the first lap to 02:30 by the time they headed into T2. This was an incredible lead over the chase group, which included Stanford and Learmonth, and the chances for a Brit making a podium finish were looking slim.
Heading into the run Flora Duffy had to be the favourite, and within minutes she dropped Betto, Spivey, and Kingma – the cycling leg having really taken its toll. Kingma would then be dropped and it looked like silver and bronze positions would be fought between Betto and Spivey, with Spivey proving to be the stronger runner. Betto would take third and be the first Italian to make a WTS podium.
“It felt amazing,” says Spivey. “I worked really hard trying to keep up with Flora, but it was worth it!”
A phenomenal run from American athlete Kiirsten Kasper saw her overtake Kingma to get into fourth, and would end the race as the leader of the series. A great performance on the run by Learmonth left her in 6th place, her best WTS finish.
Advertisement
But the day would belong to Duffy and her campaign to retain her world championship title is very much on…
It’s WTS Leeds and 80,000 spectators are out lining the streets hoping to see the Brownlee brothers in winning form in their home city. But could they deliver again on home turf? Without Spaniards Mario Mola and Javier Gomez in the mix their main opposition came from current series leader Fernando Alarza, also from Spain.
Advertisement
As expected Richard Varga (SVK) was first out of the swim with Jonny in second and Alistair not far behind. Both had a great transition and were out on the bike leg as part of lead group with two the Frenchmen Pierre Le Corre and Aurelien Raphael.
However the chase group, led by Alarza were chasing hard and halfway into the intro lap, when it looked like the leaders would get swallowed up, the Brownlees decided to break and go alone after it was clear the Frenchmen could not go with them.
At the end of the intro lap they had a lead of just 6 secs, but by the end of the first city lap the lead had extended to 11secs, and a fantastic second lap saw them double this to 24secs. Over the next five laps they would increase this lead to 01:13 – would this prove enough of a cushion to see them repeat last year’s success and take first and second?
The answer was an undeniable yes. There was no way these brothers were going to let anyone back into the race for gold and silver, and a one-two finish was soon assured but how would it fall? In the end it was Alistair again who made his famous dominating move with about 2km to go, and from then on the race was his.
Behind the Brownless the race was on for third between Great Britain’s Adam Bowden and Tom Bishop, and Alarza. Both Brits were looking strong and for a brief time there was hope Britain could make it a clean sweep on the podium, but with 4km to go Alarza made a decisive move and broke away for bronze, leaving Bowden and Bishop to take a fantastic fourth and fifth respectively.
A historic day for British triathlon with Great Britain taking four out of the top five places.
“It was really special,” Alistair told BBC Sport. “You can never expect to win a race and know what is going to happen.
“The last few hundred metres leading up to Millennium Square was amazing. I will remember this experience for the rest of my career.
“We were riding really hard on the bikes. For the first three laps of the circuit, we were probably riding as hard as we ever have. That took it out of us on the run.”
Advertisement
Jonny said: “It was a hard way to do that race, to be the two of us from the end of the swim. If I want to beat Alistair, that is not the way to do it. I basically turned it into a long-distance hard man’s race and he is a bit harder than me.”
Brothers go 1-2! @AliBrownleetri and @jonny_brownlee earn gold and silver in front of their hometown crowd! #WTSLeeds pic.twitter.com/RUgApOjxDC