For the second year, TV chef Gordon Ramsay and his wife Tana are offering triathletes places to race in the sold out Ironman 70.3 UK Staffordshire as part of the GTR100 team.
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Only 100 places are up for grabs to join Gordon and Tana on the 1.2-mile open water swim, 56-mile bike and 13.1-mile run in the Shugborough Country Estate on 12 June 2016.
Each place costs £1,200 and members of the team will have to commit to raising at least £2,500 for the Gordon and Tana Ramsay Foundation, which recently launched a new partnership with Great Ormond Street Hospital, one of the world’s leading children’s hospitals. Funds raised by the Foundation will go to Great Ormond Street Hospital Children’s Charity and will help the hospital to provide world-class care for young patients and their families.
Members of the GTR100 will receive:
1. The opportunity to be receive training advice from Alistair and Jonny Brownlee, Richard Varga and Frederik Van Lierde as well as coaching from Olympic swimmer Cassie Patten.
2. Limited edition GTR100-branded training kit, including a Huub Archimedes or Atana wetsuit.
3. Musculoskeletal screening with Team GB Athletics physiotherapists
4. Full hospitality from Gordon Ramsay’s team at the post-race reception
5. A host of further benefits, including a welcome evening with Gordon and Tana Ramsay, over £1,000 of kit, access to expert training plans and discounts at leading sport retailers
To secure one of the limited places on the GTR100 register today via the link here.
Whether it’s on city centre harbours, rural rivers or remote lakes, the rise in popularity of stand up paddle boarding (SUP) has been unavoidable in recent summers. And the 2016 looks to be the biggest yet in terms of triathlon SUP events, with a major new series being hosted across England and Wales.
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Kicking-off at Chepstow diving centre on 8 May 2016, the triSUP Series is a five-date affair from Martin Barden, the founder of UK Cycling Events, the largest cycling event organiser in Europe.
Each event will have two triSUP levels of Short and Standard, with Short event starting with a 1.5km paddle board leg before a 15km off-road or 25km road bike leg, and a 3kmrun to finish. Standard will involve a 3km SUP, 25km MTB or 40km road bike and 5km run.
Relay, group options on 4-8 person boards, SUP/bike and SUP/run events will also be offered, with draws including a £10 paddle board hire, a £35-50 race charge and flexible starting times for the staggered-start races. The organisers expect finish times to range from 3-4hrs.
The February issue of 220 Triathlon magazine went on sale today, featuring a beginner’s guide to building triathlon fitness in your gym to prepare for your first race.
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Other highlights in this month’s issue include:
Step up to Ironman with Joe Skipper: exclusive interview with British Kona pro Joe Skipper, plus top long-distance tips from the man himself
Joe Skipper reveals his go-to sessions to help you beast the Ironman bike leg
Gear focus: Aerobars We look at one of the biggest opinion dividers in the cycling community
Performance Change the pace up in the pool, go high gear/low cadence on the bike and off-road running to boost form
Competition: This month win an amazing prize package from Huub, including a top end wetsuit, tri-suit and goggles.
Test centre Simply the most comprehensive triathlon review resource available: race wheels, pool goggles and sports bras grouptests; Ridley Chronus an Eastway Emitter R4 bike reviews; all the latest tri gear tested
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Find 220 Triathlon on sale at newsagents across the UK, and the digital edition can be picked up via the iTunes store, Google Play and Zinio.
The UK’s first and only mass-participation disability sports series today announced it is introducing a triathlon to its list of events on 15th May at Eton Dorney Lake – the event is open to everyone, and they’re offering a special 10% discount on entries using the code 220TriathlonTFT10, valid until 29th February!
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Previously all solo Tribal challenges have been para-only events; however the new triathlon gives friends, families and supporters of the series the chance to be part of the day and help raise funds for Tribal, with all entry fees going directly towards the running of their various para events.
The Tribal Friends Tri, a 400m swim, 20k bike and 5k run, will be followed by Tribal Series Para Swim, which offers a range of solo swims and relays, and Tribal Series Para Run/Push (fun runs/wheelchair races), with challenges ranging from 100m to 10k.
Paralympian and Tribal Series founder Sophia Warner commented: “We’ve created a very strong community around our events and many of our participants’ friends and families have been asking how they can support our series.
“Everyone was inspired by BBC Sports Personality winner Bailey Matthews, and our first event last August saw hundreds of people with the same guts and determination take on and achieve huge personal goals. Everyone who takes part in this triathlon will be helping Tribal Series to provide more and more people with disabilities access to life-changing challenges.”
There are four Tribal events planned for the Paralympic year of 2016, with full details available on the website. Ambassador and six-time Paralympic gold medallist David Weir and five-time Paralympic gold medallist Sophie Christiansen both participated in the first Tribal event in August and will be among those cheering on participants on 15 May.
Sophie added: “Being a Paralympic year, this is a hugely exciting time for disability sport and this series gives all those inspired by the Games very important motivational goals to work towards. The Tribal Family Tri is a great way to involve friends and families who have disabled loved ones and anyone who feels passionately about making sport accessible to all.”
You can find out more about the Tribal Series and how you can support the movement here.
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Don’t forget to claim your 10% discount off the Tribal Friends Tri, a 400m swim/20km bike/5km run event taking place at Dorney Lake, Windsor on 15th May 2016. Just follow the link here, and don’t forget to enter the code 220TriathlonTFT10 to claim your 10% discount!
From the earliest days of multisport, tri teams have had a troubled existence. Despite initial fanfare, the touted likes of Commerzbank and Tri-Dubai have both folded due to a lack of funds or declining interest from those who write the cheques.
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The Belgian-based operation (and recently rechristened) BMC Etixx Pro Triathlon Team are hoping to change this with self-sufficiency, a new sponsor in rising nutrition brand Etixx and a wealth of non-drafting stars targeting Ironman glory.
We caught up with the (brilliantly-surnamed) general manager Bob de Wolf at their major pre-season camp at Sands Resort in a naturally windy Lanzarote. Here the Belgian Kona finisher expands on the teams goals, new British signing David McNamee and why teams are the future for long-course athletes…
220: The last time we spoke to you was at the team launch in 2014. What has changed since then for the outfit?
de Wolf: We had very high ambitions as a team in 2014 and said we want to become the most successful team in the world with our 10 athletes. Looking back two years later, we’ve achieved what we wanted to do. We’ve won 36 races, 81 podiums and eight top 10 finishes in world championship events. We also had a Ironman podium with Liz Blatchford in October and six continental championships. So we’re the leading team in the world in terms of performances.
Have the original goals changed since then?
I feel 2016 is a new chapter with Etixx coming onboard as a main sponsor. It means we have three key partners, with BMC, Etixx and [Belgian real estate group] Uplace. They’ve all committed for a further two seasons with clear written intentions to add a further two years to that, which adds to our goal to be a self-sustainable team. We want to stand for independence and sustainability. With the four year plan, we want to win Hawaii before the end of the decade. Looking at the potential in the team now (the eight-strong BMC Etixx consists of Blatchford, McNamee, Bart Aernouts, Romain Guillaume, Ronnie Schildknecht, Sofie Goos, Will Clarke and Helle Frederiksen), we have that talent on board.
Debutant eleventh place finisher at Hawaii, David McNamee, is the major new addition to the team for 2016. How long have you been keeping tabs on him?
We knew he came from the Team GB set-up and we started to monitor him early in 2015. He won Ironman UK and we spoke during his Kona preparation, and everything got confirmed over there. He has a huge amount of talent and massive potential. We want top-class athletes who can still develop, and David ticks those boxes. He’s also a genuine and great guy who fits in with the team philosophy. Coming from Olympic-distance racing to win an Ironman in his debut year and then run the day’s fastest marathon on debut in Hawaii, shows how much potential he has at long-distance racing. What also intrigued us was how he can make the progress.
How have you assessed where this potential lies?
We had him medically tested in the lab and we saw straight away with the data that he matches what we want from athletes. A crucial element is the key to produce a certain amount of watts around their body fat threshold. We test what kind of watts they produce around that threshold. We’ve also tested the likes of Hawaii champ Frederick van Lierde, and David and Will [Clarke] are producing similar numbers.
There are other strong teams worldwide at the moment with Bahrain Endurance and Team Bravo. How important is this for pro welfare?
My honest opinion for professional triathlon is that teams are the future. To have a doctor, a physio, a masseuse, someone to look after your marketing and media relations, a mechanic who goes with you to races, your accounts or legal matters is something we and teams can offer. We want to make our athletes better and support them in the best possible way that can effect their daily life as an athlete. And only being part of a team can do that. This is needed to move the sport forward in a professional manner.
Is there a sense of competition when you see Bahrain and Bravo at races?
This sport needs more visible heroes. And a rivalry can definitely help create these heroes and get triathlon as a sport to another level. Seeing more teams coming is healthy for triathlon and sustainability.
Are the major long-course race organisers Ironman and Challenge doing enough to promote the heroes of the sport?
Truthfully, I think there’s room for huge improvement in the coverage of professional racing. The media coverage of the fantastic battles that take place on worldwide courses is often hard to follow. You magazines are doing great stuff to promote the sport, but it needs to be on television or online platforms. You don’t need helicopters in the air, there are systems available to have better coverage. And the race organisers need to invest in that.
How do you make four or eight hour races appeal to the television masses?
There are examples of coverage being good, like the Ironman 70.3 World Champs in Austria, which was easy to follow online. I’d like to see it on Eurosport, where they show highlights of the swim and bike before cutting live to the half or full marathon. This could be condensed into a two, three hour window. And we’ll continue to push the race organisers for this as there’s vast room for improvement.
How did the involvement with Etixx start? Was this instigated by the athletes?
We started working with Etixx in 2014 as an exclusive nutrition partners. They’ve really invested in the R&D side, with huge input from our sports director and athletes in the expansion of their product range. They launched five new products in 2015 based on recommendations from our athletes. So that’s a true definition of a perfect partnership, and not just being a sponsor of the team.
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Image: BrakeThrough Media. For more on BMC Etixx head to www.uplacebmctriathlon.com and for more info on Etixx Sports Nutrition visit etixxsports.com
Along with Joe Skipper, David McNamee was the break-out Brit Ironman male of the 2015 season. McNamee came through the British Triathlon set-up before leaving for the long-course world in late 2014. The next year saw him take the Ironman UK title and finish 11th at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii, the best male Brit of the day and with the fastest marathon time, too.
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The race led to the Scot joining the BMC Etixx Pro Tri Team for 2016, working alongside Will Clarke, Liz Blatchford and a host of non-drafting pros aiming for long-course dominance. We caught up with the 27-year-old to talk through his career…
ON STARTING TRI…
I started triathlon at the New Year’s Day triathlon in Edinburgh, it was freezing and I was horrific. [Scot pro] Fraser Cartmell won it and that was cool to see; six months later I was training with him in Stirling. British Triathlon became involved after I was fourth at Blenheim; a few weeks later I was racing the ITU World Series at Kitzbuhel and didn’t have a clue who anyone was. But I came sixteenth and that got me into the U23 Worlds that year and I ended up doing six ITU World Champs.
ON EXITING BRITISH TRI SET-UP…
There are things I’d change but I feel positive about it all, it set me up for my career. To be honest, I don’t think I could’ve won at Olympic medal. I saw the frustration that Will Clarke and Tim Don went through in 2012 and I didn’t want that for 2016, so it felt like the right time to move on. As soon as the Selection Policy was announced, I worked out quickly that I wasn’t going to Rio and there was nothing I could do about it. It’s [the ITU] a claustrophobic scene and it’s hard when you feel like an outsider; they [British Triathlon] want you to do well in the series races but, once the big show comes around, then they’ve no intention of taking you. That’s not what I’m in the sport for, I want to go to the big stages and perform. Ironman and 70.3 allows me to do that.
ON IRONMAN ASPIRATION…
I knew about Ironman Hawaii before I know about triathlon. I remember being young and watching Trans World Sport at silly o’clock and Kona would be on. I thought they were a bunch of crazy lunatics but it’s amazing how something just sticks with you. I remember Simon Lessing racing it, Thomas Hellriegel too. I think physiologically I’m better at the long-distance stuff, I’m an athlete who likes to suffer more and fundamentally I’ve always lacked a little speed. And you need that even in a two-hour Olympic-distance race.
ON TEAM BMC…
They’ll sort your sponsors out for you, bring a mechanic and a masseuse, and all of the stuff you don’t think about. You can’t put a price on that. For a pro, to rush around looking for a local bike shop before a race, and then trusting someone who won’t be familiar with your bike, isn’t what you need come race week. It’s like the cycling world, with huge support staff but that hasn’t been embraced in triathlon until now.
ON IRONMAN NUTRITION…
Short-course fuelling is very simple and you don’t need a huge amount; you can keep it simple with a gel or two on the bike and a bit of isotonic drink. For 70.3 and Ironman races, by hour three you’ve run out of the energy sources you started with so you need to top things up on the bike. Figuring out how to eat on the bike is critical, and people will recommend countless ways like energy bars, dried fruit, sweets, but I prefer gels. I’ve got a sweet tooth so i put about 16 gels into my bottle for a race and suck that. And it’s key to monitor the sodium intake at hot races especially. [New BMC co-sponsor] Etixx are a premium brand. The prices may be a little higher but that’s what performance costs and it works.
Dimond Bikes has released two new beam-shape models for the 2016 season, a lower price bike, the ‘Dimond Xpress,’ at $5,950 and the ‘Brilliant’, at a pricier $9,879. The frameset for these are $4,000 and $6,850 respectively.
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The Xpress bike features the same riding experience as the original Dimond, and weighs roughly 200 grams more depending on the size, and comes with a standard build and paint option.
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The Brilliant features their new ‘Superfork’ and allows for custom paint and builds. Its magnetic cover on the superfork removes easily to service the brake, but stays on while riding. The prototype was trialled by Dimond pro Maik Twelsiek in Kona at the 2016 Ironman World Championships last October where he delivered the best bike split of the day.
From short-course wins to Olympic qualification heartbreak and instant Ironman success, Aussie racer Liz Blatchford has experienced a long and colourful triathlon career.
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We caught up with the Cheshire-born 34-year-old at a BMC Etixx pro team camp to discuss racing ITU for GB, her Ironman world championship podiums and what essential advice she has for age-groupers making the jump to long-course racing…
220: UK readership will know you from your ITU days racing for Great Britain. How do you look back on those days?
Blatchford: I see my ITU years as my formative years. I attribute my quick long-course success to what I did in my 11 years of ITU racing; that’s a lot of training in the bag. I did a lot of high volume training when I was coached by Brett Sutton, so that made the transition easier when I turned to long-course. I enjoyed my time in ITU. I tried and failed to qualify for the Olympics three times – yep three times! – but I’ve no regrets. I still do believe tri is an individual sport and shouldn’t be for domestiques, though.
Was Ironman always a long-term goal and why did your body adapt so quickly to the rigours of long-course training and racing?
Ironman wasn’t really a goal in all honesty. In 2011, I thought I’d race the London Olympics and possibly retire. But when I didn’t qualify, I didn’t feel like I wanted to finish on that note. So I went and did some 70.3s that year, and won them. So I really watched Kona with interest in 2012, and that inspired me and put that ‘What if?’ in my head. I didn’t think my body would be that suited to Ironman training because of the injuries I’ve had, but it was probably the speed that caused my short-course injuries.
What have been the major changes when moving to long-course racing?
Learning to ride a time-trial bike and spending five hours in the TT position! That’s so different to riding a road bike! So a lot of it was contorting my body to get into that initially uncomfortable position. I’ve dropped a lot of intensity out of my training, but I wouldn’t say I’ve doing anymore hours than I did in ITU training. Instead of three hard run sessions with ITU, it’s one or two per week.
Did you expect your third place at Hawaii on debut in 2013?
I didn’t expect that. I’d won Ironman Cairns but that wasn’t enough to qualify for Hawaii, but I struggled at Mont Tremblant a little later but that provided a strength boost. I hoped for top 10 in Hawaii but I had something approaching a perfect race, apart from a four minute littering penalty! I was a bit delirious at the time, I threw a bottle in the wrong zone and I realised as soon as it left my hand. In retrospect I should’ve stopped, but I wasn’t thinking straight.
After another third in 2015, how are you preparing for 2016?
I’m definitely always paying attention to my competitors, but you should always focus on your self. I’m carrying a few injuries that I had at Hawaii in 2015 so the goal is to get rid of them first. I know what to do to get myself in the best shape for Kona. I can address my weaknesses but so much depends on how the day goes.
From what we’ve seen over the last few days, it seems a really good set-up at BMC Etixx in terms of support and stability. How much has that benefited you?
We’re using the best stuff in terms of equipment and staff. [Being on a salary] means you’re not having to race every month to make a living, so that’s priceless. Ben and Bob are really supportive and don’t apply pressure. And I really enjoy spending time with my teammates, it makes the 40 hours of travel from Melbourne to Lanzarote worth it! In terms of having Etixx on board, it’s brilliant. We’re drug tested as pro athletes and everything with Etixx is batch-tested so you can trust it; not all nutrition is equal but we know their’s is clean. And they really take on board athlete feedback.
You’ve experienced a lot in your career. Do you think the sport is in good shape?
I think the teams like ours, Bahrain 13 and others make it the best state it’s been in for a long time. The whole Ironman side, there’s definitely a lot that needs to be worked on there. We had a few meetings with Andrew Messick in Boulder last summer, and they want to hear our ideas but we need a united voice. So I hope the Pro Tri Union makes some positive changes.
You studied marine biology. Is that something you’ll return to after tri?
It’s still an interest but I can’t see it being a career. I’m actually looking into a teaching diploma to teach science and physical education at secondary school. My mum was a teacher and it’s not a bad way to spend your days! They’ve just added triathlon to some curriculums in Australia, so it’d be good to impart some of my knowledge onto teenage kids. Less focusing on myself, and more giving time to others!
And what key pieces of advice can you give to our readers making the move from Olympic to long-distance triathlon?
1. Spend a lot of time on your time-trial bike! And on the aerobars as you want to be comfortable.
2. If it’s your first Ironman, try and enjoy it. You only have your first time once! So try and enjoy and embrace the experience, as it’s pretty special.
3. Going into your first half or Ironman, train with your nutrition in your key sessions. Make sure you use your gels, bars or isotonic drinks to get your stomach and digestive tract used to taking those on board. You need to know how much sports nutrition you need and how much you can tolerate. That’s a big part of your training as well.
For more on BMC Etixx head to www.uplacebmctriathlon.com and for more info on Etixx Sports Nutrition visit etixxsports.com
The S-stroke in front crawl could be more effective for triathletes, rather than the I-stroke, new research from the University of Tsukuba in Japan shows.
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The scientists investigated which stroke was more effective in the water; the S-stroke when the arm draws a curve in the water or the I-stroke when it moves straight, and found that the effectiveness of the stroke depended on the distance swum. According to their results the S-stroke is better suited for swimming middle and long distances, when you need propulsive power with less physical exertion, while the I-stroke is better for short distances, which depend on speed over efficiency.
The study explains that this is because “the mechanisms of propulsive power differ between the two strokes. The vortex pairs generated by the S-stroke, with the arm changing orientation in the water, cause unsteady lift force, while the I-stroke’s straight movement causes Kármán vortices that produce drag force.”
However this research doesn’t take into account coping with open-water.
“I-shaped pulls and S-shaped pulls are at extremes of the spectrum. Most people will fit somewhere along that, rather than at either end, depending on height, reach, power, flexibility and feel for the water, a point that will feel most natural to them,” says John Wood, 220 Triathlon swimming coach.
“The way I look at it is that if you have a decent hold on the water with hands and forearms, you can look to pull relatively straight but your hand/arm will follow a slight S shape naturally as it tries to find the still water. From there you don’t really need to accentuate the shape. (Actually the more you try and exaggerate the S, the more likely you are to cross under the middle of your body). Rather than worrying too much about the route that the hand takes back under the water, more focus for beginners and experienced swimmers alike should be on ensuring constant pressure on the hand/forearm throughout the pull phase.”
How to improve your ‘catch and pull’ phase in front crawl
220 staff writer Jack Sexty says: “There may be truth behind the research claiming that the S-stroke may be the most efficient technique on paper, but it’s important to remember that open-water swimming can throw up a whole host of variables that this research doesn’t account for.
“Many fast open-water swimmers, such as Harry Wiltshire and Jonny Brownlee, employ a faster turnover with a straight-arm pull whilst drafting other swimmers – a faster turnover can help open-water swimmers to keep moving over waves or chops in the water, whilst employing a longer pull could actually work against you if rough water/chop from other swimmers is disturbing your stroke anyway. The research also assumes the swimmer will be employing the technique correctly in the first place – and an incorrect s-stroke is far less efficient than a well executed straight-arm pull!”
What do you think? Which stroke do you use? Let us know in the comments…
Found this useful? Check out
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For more tips on improving your swim technique check out our swim section
Defending champions Gina Crawford (NZL) and Dylan McNeice (NZL) are just a few of the international pro triathletes lining up for the 10th anniversary of New Zealand’s long distance triathlon, taking place on 20 February. They will be looking to secure their seventh and fourth titles respectively and the lion’s share of the $80,000 prize fund.
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However competition will be fierce for this ironman competition. Hoping to beat Gina will be DATEV Challenge Roth champion and former world record holder over the 226km distance, Yvonne van Vlerken (NED), who has had over 80 podiums in her career, along with 2015 runner-up Laura Siddall (GBR), Alyssa Godesky (USA) and Kiwi athlete, now resident in the USA, Anna Cleaver.
The mens will be equally exciting. Last year saw Dougal Allan (NZL) break the bike course record by almost 12 minutes, while Maik Twelsiek had the fastest bike split in Kona this year.
Other contenders for 2016 include Joe Skipper (GBR), who holds the fourth fastest 180km bike split of all time and also has a 2:50 marathon run split to his name, and Per Bittner (GER).
“I am excited to see such a great field lining up for ChallengeWanaka 2016,” said Dylan McNeice. “There are four to five guys there who will all bring different dynamics to the race, but one thing is for sure, it looks as though I will need to pack the best bike legs of my career. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the bike and overall race records fall this year, I think it is going to take a massive performance from the eventual winner.”
Entries close on January 23 and it is expected that the pros will be joined by more than 1,600 age-group athletes.
This spectacular long distance triathlon race is set against the alpine backdrop of New Zealand’s Southern Alps and the Te Wahipounamu World Heritage Area. The 180km bike takes in two alpine lakes, while the 42.2km run is 75 per cent off-road along the water’s edge.
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Live online TV coverage starts at 6:30am at challenge-wanaka.com with race updates on Twitter @ChallengeWanaka