Want a new long-distance challenge next year? General entries for The Bastion 2016 went on sale this morning, offering athletes the chance to race around the iconic backdrop of Hever Castle in Kent, with 25% off for those who enter early. Advertisement >>> 2015 Bastion winners crowned at Hever Castle  The Bastion will take place on 10th July 2016 and begins with a 3.8km unique swim at the Italianate loggia in Hever Castle, taking competitors down the length of the main lake before passing the Japanese teahouse and heading into a scenic river section. The 180km three-loop bike course represents one of the toughest iron-distance routes on offer in the…

The new issue of 220 Triathlon magazine went on sale today, and this month we’re all about the future – like our cover star Ben Dijkstra, one of Britain’s most exciting up-and-coming triathletes. Advertisement Also in this month’s issue: Secrets of Ironman success: boost your physical and mental endurance Smash your A-race: beginners’ training plan, master the 21km run, how to beat fatigue Brunt vs Isoman: our Weekend Warrior shares his racing woes Big helmets grouptest: 10 aero lids rated for race day  Orbea Ordu triathlon bike first ride PLUS wetsuit giveaway: win a Blueseventy kit package worth £780 Martyn Brunt swimming 7 miles for the IsoMan (Image: Ian Cook…

With three races left on the 2015 WTS calendar, Stockholm will see some tough points battles this weekend – Spanish trio Javier Gomez, Mario Mola and Fernando Alarza are all racing, and in the women’s race Sarah True and Katie Zaferes (USA) will face stiff competition from Switzerland’s Nicola Spirig. Advertisement This year’s race (map here) will feature a new swim start and two transitions, and this year returns to Olympic distance (1.5km swim/40km bike/10km run) – but the cobblestones will remain. Let’s hope the weather’s better than last year too. Women’s preview The peerless Gwen Jorgensen is sitting this one out, meaning compatriots True and Katie Zaferes have the…

Like a challenge? Entries for The Legend Triathlon have just opened – a new single-lap iron-distance race around Snowdonia National Park, taking place on Sunday 10 July. Advertisement Billed as the UK’s friendliest, toughest and most beautiful single lap iron distance triathlon, it will start and finish in Llanberis and send athletes through ‘mind-blowing scenery, flawless tarmac and a number of iconic climbs’, according to the organisers. Those climbs will include Bwlch maesgwm, Pen-y-Pass and the infamous Dinorwig Quarries. The run stage comprises of a full-length mixed terrain marathon set in the heart of the Snowdonia National Park, then brings athletes back to Llanberis to finish. “The interest this event has…

It’s the final countdown to this year’s Ironman 70.3 World Champs, and defending champions Javier Gomez (ESP) and Daniela Ryf (SUI) will have a tough race on their hands in Austria next weekend (30 August). Advertisement >>> Javier Gomez, Daniela Ryf win Ironman 70.3 World Champs in Mont-Tremblant >>> Free Ironman 70.3 training plans This will be the first time Europe has hosted what many see as the pinnacle of middle-distance racing (1.9km swim/90km bike/21.1km run) – last year’s race took place in Mont-Tremblant, Canada, and it has previously always taken place in the US.  Since the series began in 2006, the Ironman 70.3 World Championship has been controlled by…

Heard about London’s ‘sky pool’ yet? Basically a regular 25m swimming pool suspended between two apartment blocks 10 storeys up, it will form part of a new development near the former Battersea power station. Advertisement It’s expected to be ready for action in 2018, and will be entirely transparent and structure free – the only thing stopping all that water from plummeting to Earth will be 20cm of glass. Not sure if we’d be brave enough to ‘float through the air in central London’ like the developers promise, we decided to take a look at the rest of the world’s biggest, most beautiful and most unusual pools: Shangri-la Shard, London…

Sarah True once again claimed the top spot in Stockholm with a dominant performance on the run, beating favourite Katie Zaferes and Olympic champion Nicola Spirig in the process. Advertisement True won her first World Triathlon Series event in the Swedish capital last year over sprint distance, and this year she increased her margin of victory to 14 seconds over the standard distance course to come home in 2:01:05. With the current world champion Gwen Jorgensen choosing to sit this one out along with Brits Vicky Holland and Non Stanford, there were few athletes in the field who have split True and Zaferes this season. This was true from the…

Hard to believe, but reigning world champ Javier Gomez had never won WTS Stockholm before today – and he finally put that right this afternoon with a dominant display that carried him across the finish line nearly 1min ahead of second-placed Joao Pereira (POR). Advertisement >>> Sarah True wins Stockholm World Triathlon That makes it his sixth podium of the 2015 season, and Gomez is looking increasingly likely to become the first athlete to win five ITU World Championships – just two WTS races remain this season, Edmonton and Chicago. The other two podium spots came down to an impressive battle between Pereira and Aaron Royle (AUS), neither of whom…

The suspense didn’t let up in the women’s race at Challenge Walchsee in Austria last weekend, with Britain’s Catherine Jameson and Lucy Gossage right up there at the front of the pack throughout the middle-distance race. Advertisement Jameson led out of the swim, and over the first 60km of the bike she held a 3:30mins gap over her pursuers Gossage, Daniela Sämmler (GER), defending champ Yvonne van Vlerken (NED) and Simone Braendli (SUI).  Sämmler subsequently fell back, but the remaining trio of Gossage, Van Vlerken and Braendli kept calm and by T2 they had closed the gap. Within seconds of each other the top four women headed out onto the…

The Triathlon England – National Relay Championships saw teams from all over the country compete last weekend (22-23rd August) for Triathlon England national titles at the Zoot Triathlon Relays. Advertisement Hosted in Nottingham, just as it has been since 1991, the Zoot Triathlon Relays also saw new elite style relays and team time trials take place on Sunday alongside the traditional format. Sunday Saturday saw hundreds of teams take part in two waves of relays that offered prizes in men’s, women’s, mixed and open categories across a range of age-groups. The quickest teams got all four relay members around the 500m swim, 15km bike and 5km run course in less…