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Yodelayheehoo! Challenge Walchsee-Kaiserwinkl to host 2016 European Half Distance Champs
Austria – home of Mozart’s chocolate balls, The Sound Of Music and (as of next year) the European Half Distance Triathlon Championships, as Challenge Walchsee-Kaiserwinkl has just been picked to host next year’s event on 21 August, 2016. Advertisement Around 2,000 athletes are expected next year, with both the Elite European Championship and Age Group European Championship to be held in the Tyrol region, along with paratriathlon and other sporting events. Athletes can get a test run on the championships course at this year’s Challenge Walchsee on 23 August run alongside more than 1,000 starters, as well as compete for qualification slots for the upcoming European Championships. Last year’s race…
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Rinny racing Ironman Melbourne next month
After winning Kona two years on the trot, Mirinda Carfrae (AUS) will be the headline act at the 2015 Ironman Asia-Pacific Championship in Melbourne this March – though she again faces her Swiss nemesis Caroline Steffen. Advertisement This will be the first time Rinny has raced on Aussie soil since finishing third in the event’s 2012 edition, when she came third behind Steffen. “I’m looking forward to racing again at home. Winning an Australian Ironman title is not something I’ve done yet, so I’d love to add one to my résumé,” Carfrae said. “It’s a championship race so some of the girls will be really targeting it and be in…
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Ironman aligns global rules with ITU for 2015
Ironman has released its updated competition rules for 2015, taking effect this March and designed to align more closely with the ITU’s regulations. Advertisement The rules for drafting distances, time penalties and wetsuit water temperature cut-offs will now be globally uniform at Ironman and Ironman 70.3 events: Draft zones The age-group bicycle draft zone is 10m long, measured from the leading edge of the front wheel and extending towards the back of the bike (five bike lengths of clear space between bikes). An age-group athlete may enter the draft zone of another athlete when passing and must continuously progress through the draft zone. A maximum of 20secs will be allowed…
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Challenge Family confirms Americas prize purse for 2015
Challenge Family has confirmed the prize purses for its 2015 races in North and South America, covering 15 venues and offering roughly €50,000 at each full-distance triathlon. Advertisement Prize money will be paid to the top ten male and female professional finishers at each event, with the exception of Challenge St Andrews, which will pay five deep. Middle distance races will have a purse of around €25,000 each. Exact prize purses in dollars can be found on individual race sites (accessible via www.challenge-family.com). The 2015 Challenge Family professional division races in the Americas run as follows: May 17 – Knoxville HalfJune 7 – Quassy HalfJune 14 – Williamsburg HalfJune 21…
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Swim, bike… marry? Triathletes find love at Challenge Weymouth
What did you do for Valentine’s Day? These two British age groupers got married after meeting on the picturesque roads of Dorset at Challenge Weymouth five months ago. Advertisement Phillip Henwood and Alicia Livingstone first laid eyes on each other during the 185km bike leg last September, then spent an hour or so cycling at a similar speed and chatting away before Alicia pushed on with her race and left Phillip to finish the route on his own, still thinking about the “glamorous athlete” he’d just met Luckily for Phillip, Alicia contacted him after Weymouth and the pair decided that their next encounter should be at another race in October…
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Fancy donning an Uplace-BMC suit?
After announcing their 2015 pro athlete roster, the Uplace-BMC Triathlon Team is now targeting age-groupers – would you like to wear the same kit as Bart Aernouts and Corinne Abraham, and have access to their expert advice? Advertisement For €300, age-groupers will get the complete Uplace-BMC team kit, along with a few extras: “With the launch of the Uplace-BMC Age Group Team we want to intensify the connectivity to the team,” said team manager Bob de Wolf. “We want to share the experience and knowhow of our professional team with our fans and future members.” Click Here: cheap adidas superstar To get all the details how to become an Uplace-BMC athlete…
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Blazing a trail: We meet Iran’s first female triathlete
This morning it will be the crisp chill of the changing seasons that demands Shirin Gerami wraps a shawl around her head and shoulders. It wasn’t always thus. Advertisement Gerami (pronounced with a hard G, although she happily softens it in western company), is the most enigmatic of interviewees, an effervescent smile and infectious giggles belying a stubborn interior. A determination to be a catalyst for change could be compromised by the humility of her responses – except actions speak far louder than words, especially when you have stood, arms aloft, national flag raised, as your country’s first-ever female triathlete. Gentle ice-breakers are quickly brushed over. Born in Iran, Gerami’s…
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Challenge Philippines: GB’s Emma Pooley takes a second shot
There’ll be plenty of British interest at this weekend’s Challenge Philippines, with Olympic medal-winning cyclist Emma Pooley and top age-grouper Parys Edwards among those shooting for the €5,000 prize for first place. Advertisement Pooley placed third at last year’s middle distance race behind Aussie duo Melissa Hauschildt and Annabel Luxford, neither of whom are expected to race this year. Her main rivals this year will include local favourite Monica Torres and American athlete Kelly Williamson, who won Ironman Texas last year. Away we go! Adventures await w/ d3rick. @roadid @memorialhermann #ChallengePhilippines http://t.co/7mTFqV99MJ — Kelly H Williamson (@khwilliamson) February 16, 2015 The men’s race is likely to be dominated by two-time…
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ETU’s 2016 Elite Sprint Triathlon Champs head to Châteauroux
For their first Elite Sprint Triathlon Championships, the ETU has picked an absolute beaut of a location – the ‘Belle Isle’ in the city of Châteauroux, central France. Advertisement Located only two hours by train from the centre of Paris, the city of Châteauroux has been a venue over the years for French Championship events and is well-known and much loved by French athletes. The area is surrounded by forests and situated on the Indre River – with plentiful lakes and fitness trails. The location for the race is known as ‘Belle Isle’. The beautiful lake, covering some eight hectares and surrounded by a further 12 hectares of protected green…
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Why Clean Protocol drugs testing needs a chance: comment
When Rita Jeptoo successfully defended her Boston and Chicago titles last year, she secured a $500,000 jackpot as the top-ranked female marathon runner in the world. Advertisement The 33-year-old was heralded for reaping the rewards for hard work over a long career, until an A sample from a drugs test taken a fortnight before Chicago proved positive. An inspiring story of athletic achievement was dwarfed by one of doping. With every convicted offender, the spectacle of elite competition diminishes. Until Jeptoo’s positive test, African athletics had been comparatively untainted. Now rumours abound and belief is shaken. Triathlon boasts just a handful of high-profile drug busts: Nina Kraft’s hastily aborted Kona…