>>> Gallery: The Eirias Triathlon 2014

Taking place in Colwyn Bay, North Wales on Saturday 26 September, the middle distance+ race will start with a sea swim of 1900m, followed by a 106km cycle through the Welsh hills, finishing with a 20km coastal run to Porth Eirias Watersports Complex. There will also be a standard distance+ race involving a 1500m swim, 53km cycle and 10km run. 

The prizes will be awarded for the top three aggregated individual times achieved by a club or team, for both male and female teams. The winning male and female teams will receive £400 per team, with £250 awarded to the second team and £100 to the third team.

Carol Bridge, overall winner of the 2014 Eirias Middle Distance+ Triathlon

“The Eirias Triathlon is recognised as one of the best and most challenging triathlons in the UK and it attracts a top field,” said race director Simon Hill. “Being a Saturday race and now with the introduction of the cash prize fund we are hoping to see more clubs and teams from North Wales, the North West and beyond on the start line. 

Registration to The Eirias Triathlon is open at www.xtramileevents.com/events/ with individual entry fees of £90 for the middle distance and £65 for the standard distance race. Team relay entries are available for £125 or £75 respectively.

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Will you be racing the Eirias Triathlon? Let us know in the comments below!

Money raised from events like the London Triathlon allows us to continue helping members of the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force, Reservists, veterans and their families all year round, as we have done for over 90 years.

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Test your stamina by taking part in the world’s largest triathlon on behalf of the Royal British Legion in order to help serving and ex-service personnel and their dependants.

This event attracts over 13,000 triathletes and 30,000 spectators come along to cheer all of the competitors along. The Royal Docks and landmark-laden cycling route into central London make for a pretty stunning backdrop!

There are distances to suit all abilities, from super sprint to Olympic plus, so if you’re up for pushing your limits and taking on this great challenge to help raise money for an incredibly worthwhile cause, then register here.

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Or contact Fiona for more information: [email protected] / 020 3207 2268.

>>>Ironman 70.3 Staffs: our pick of the top age-groupers racing

Gomez revealed he had his season planned out months earlier, and is considering the defence of his 70.3 title as important as the 2015 World Triathlon Series. 

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We’re on-site tomorrow at Ironman 70.3 Staffs, and will be covering the race on Twitter, with full race reports and galleries on this website afterwards. Good luck to everyone racing!

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We’re on-site tomorrow at Ironman 70.3 Staffs, and will be covering the race on Twitter, with full race reports and galleries on this website afterwards. Good luck to everyone racing!

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Gloriously bright conditions at Chasewater Reservoir were a relief after the sogginess of yesterday, and after a short delay of around 10mins the pro men including GB’s Will Clarke, Gomez and Nick Kastelein (AUS) entered the water.

They’re off! @IM703STAFFS pic.twitter.com/HxUSA4vUEY

— 220Triathlon (@220Triathlon) June 14, 2015

Kastelein led Gomez out of the 1.9km swim with a 23:33min split, and Will Clarke was around 40secs back in third position. But disaster struck for Kastelein moments later, as he tweeted us:

@220Triathlon unfortunately that’s where it ended. Flatted in first km of bike. @IM703STAFFS

— Nicholas Kastelein (@NickKastelein) June 14, 2015

There were more surprises further into the bike – Germany’s Markus Thomschke took up the lead and managed to establish a 90sec lead over Gomez and Romain Guillaume (FRA), with Will Clarke around 6mins behind the leader. 

Thomschke, who placed second at Wimbleball 2012 and sixth at Ironman UK last year, extended his lead over Gomez to 2:30mins coming out of T2, with Guillaume and Clarke around 22secs behind Gomez.

The first pros are on the run course! #IM703Staffs pic.twitter.com/XvjIwd9PoN

— IRONMAN 70.3 STAFFS (@IM703STAFFS) June 14, 2015

Yet more drama followed on the run: Thomschke started to fall back and Gomez took up the lead, establishing a 1min margin by the halfway point. Clarke was still within 10mins of the lead at this point, in fourth position behind BMC-Uplace teammate Romain Guillaume.

From here there could only be one winner, with Gomez near-unbeatable in this kind of position – and so it proved to be, as he crossed the line in 4:02:13, ahead of Markus Thomschke and Romain Guillaume. Will Clarke finished fourth in 4:11:10.

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1 Gomez, Javier (ESP) +00:00 04:02:13
2 Thomschke, Markus (GER) +05:20 04:07:33
3 Guillaume, Romain (FRA) +06:54 04:09:07
4 Clarke, Will (GBR) +08:57 04:11:10
5 Schilling, Alexander (GER) +15:26 04:17:39
6 Fox, Michael (AUS) +16:42 04:18:55
7 Simon, Oliver (GBR) +17:53 04:20:06
8 Harrison, Stephen (GBR) +20:13 04:22:26
9 Williams, Brad (USA) +21:06 04:23:19
10 Cseik, Marton (HUN) +28:00 04:30:13

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>>> Ironman 70.3 Staffs: Javier Gomez leaves it to the run for winning move

Rutherford was first out of the water, ahead of Xterra warrior Slack and New Zealand’s Sam Warriner, with Hector and Gossage not far behind.

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Georgie Rutherford leads out of the swim; she eventually finished fourth woman

Once on the bike Gossage pushed hard and took the lead by the 37km mark, leading all the way to T2 with a bike split of 2:29:54, and arriving around 7mins ahead of Cheetham and Rutherford. Warriner left transition in fourth place around 12mins behind Gossage, with Hector in fifth.

Lucy Gossage started her lonely run after a bike split of 02:29:54! #IM703Staffs

— IronmanLIVE.com (@IRONMANLive) June 14, 2015

By the halfway point of the run Gossage had built a 10min lead over Cheetham and Rutherford, and that lead grew to 12mins by the time she closed in on the finishing chute, crossing the line in 4:31:09, followed exactly 10mins later by Cheetham, with Warriner taking third place.

1 Gossage, Lucy (GBR) +00:00 04:31:09
2 Cheetham, Susie (GBR) +10:19 04:41:28
3 Warriner, Samantha Jane (NZL) +15:27 04:46:36
4 Rutherford, Georgie (GBR) +17:06 04:48:15
5 Haresign, Eleanor (GBR) +22:09 04:53:18

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Did you race in Staffs today? Let us know in the comments!

The debut Windsor Triathlon kicked-off in June 1991 as part of the 220 Triathlon Series and, 24 years later, its inaugural (and six-time) winner Spencer Smith was hollering support to athletes on the infamous Castle Climb. Whereas that debut race – organised by John Lunt and Jasmine Flatters, who were in attendance today – attracted 250 athletes via postal, fax and phone entries, the sell-out scenes today saw nearly 3,000 triathletes take to the Thames waters in front of Windsor Leisure Centre, a return to that debut race’s swim location.

Happy 25th edition Windsor Tri! A return to the Leisure Centre swim start used on first race in 1991. #WindsorTri25 pic.twitter.com/9xPc5LOdWu

— 220Triathlon (@220Triathlon) June 14, 2015

The first of the 28 waves kicked-off at 6am with the men’s sprint (47 and above), with the Olympic-distance waves starting 20mins later, leading up to the final ‘Race with the Stars’ sub 2:30hr wave at 8:40am consisting of Windsor legends (Stu Hayes and Richard Stannard), elite athletes (Dan Halksworth) and top age-groupers. 

Richard ‘The Fish’ Stannard and @StuHayes13 leading the River Thames swim once again @HumanRaceEvents Windsor Tri pic.twitter.com/qgNEf87H6u

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— 220Triathlon (@220Triathlon) June 14, 2015

As has been the case longer than we can count at Windsor, local boy Stannard led out the 1.5km swim, with non-drafting specialist Hayes in close pursuit. Bike powerhouse Hayes was soon in front on the 40km non-drafting bike leg, which like the swim and run legs featured some modifications for 2015, and held his lead into T2 after the day’s best bike split.

Onto the 10km run, and in increasingly cold and damp conditions, Hayes didn’t lose much of his 90-seconds advantage as his climbed the famous Windsor High Street run three-times – a rite of passage for British triathletes for 24 years – in front of Windsor Castle, where Queenie was staying due to the Magna Carta regatta taking place later that day. Hayes’ old Thames Turbo mucker, Spencer Smith, was busy dispensing support on the climb to countless appreciative athletes, and was evidently still in thrall to the iconic Windsor experience some 25 editions after he broke the inaugural tape.

Six-time Windsor champ and 220 hero Spencer Smith shouting support on #WindsorTri25 run course pic.twitter.com/SrlzWwNaWV

— 220Triathlon (@220Triathlon) June 14, 2015

Hayes entered the Barry Avenue finish line with an 90sec advantage over Jersey’s long-course specialist Dan Halksworth and crossed the line in 1:56:22 ahead of Halksworth and Stannard (M30-34 age-grouper Andy Hamilton, however, produced the day’s third-fastest Olympic time).

Winner of Windsor 2015 is Stu Hayes, followed home by Dan Halksworth and Rich Stannard #WindsorTri2015 pic.twitter.com/4EUyD81WYU

— 220Triathlon (@220Triathlon) June 14, 2015

The women’s race saw Sarah Lewis join Brit greats Liz Blatchford, Julie Dibens, Helen Jenkins and Jodie Stimpson as a Windsor winner, with Anna-Sykes Brown and Louise Croxton following Lewis home.

The fastest sprint times of the day were Marianne Clark (1:27:26 in the F50-54 category) and Patrick Tierny (1:17:50 in M-35-39), with David Candy – a veteran of that debut race – topping the M50-54 age-group (1:25:32) and placing 12th overall.

On what we reckon is the biggest day in UK tri history in terms of participation, Windsor’s enduring mix of age-group and elite action, scenery and heritage proved that the Grandaddy of UK tri still has a major role to play alongside the new (70.3 Staffs) and huge (Blenheim) in the future of UK tri. Here’s to the next 25 years. 

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Look out for a Windsor special in issue 315 of 220, out in July.

Male elite winner Chris Perham sprinted to victory in a time of 1:35hrs, closely followed by Loughborough University teammates Matthew Wright, just 3secs behind and Morgan Davies, who followed shortly after to take the final podium place. 

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Chris said: “This is my first senior super series triathlon and it was certainly an unexpected win. I put the power down in the swim and stayed in the pack for the bike. 

“I came out of transition well so that meant there was a small group of us for the run which paid off – I’m happy with that. Going into the race I hoped to get on the podium so I’m really happy with the win. Next up is the 2015 Holten ETU Triathlon Premium European Cup.” 

Women’s race

Providing another competitive race, the women’s elite title was taken by India Lee who timed 10:3mins on the swim, 33:36mins on the bike and a remarkable 20:18mins on the run to secure her victory ahead of WTS racer Sophie Coldwell and Natalie Milne.  

The victory for India, trained by Richard Stannard, came on the back of 3rd place at the Antalya ETU Triathlon Cup and gaining qualification for the Rio test event race which will be in August but India “wanted to prove she was in shape.” 

“I’m absolutely delighted with the win today – especially being in the front pack for the swim, I’m really pleased with that,” she said afterwards. “I’ve been working on the swim so it was great that it gave me a good set up for the bike. Then I worked hard with Sophie (Coldwell) on the bike so I could finish off with a strong run. It’s been a great day and I’m really happy.” 

Were you racing at Blenheim today? Let us know in the comments below!

A field of 137 elites battled it out today (14 June) at the Blenheim Triathlon for round one of the British Super Series, and it was Chris Perham and India Lee who prevailed despite some tough competition.

Male elite winner Chris Perham sprinted to victory in a time of 1:35hrs, closely followed by Loughborough University teammates Matthew Wright, just 3secs behind and Morgan Davies, who followed shortly after to take the final podium place. 

Chris said: “This is my first senior super series triathlon and it was certainly an unexpected win. I put the power down in the swim and stayed in the pack for the bike. 

“I came out of transition well so that meant there was a small group of us for the run which paid off – I’m happy with that. Going into the race I hoped to get on the podium so I’m really happy with the win. Next up is the 2015 Holten ETU Triathlon Premium European Cup.” 

Women’s race

Providing another competitive race, the women’s elite title was taken by India Lee who timed 10:3mins on the swim, 33:36mins on the bike and a remarkable 20:18mins on the run to secure her victory ahead of WTS racer Sophie Coldwell and Natalie Milne.  

The victory for India, trained by Richard Stannard, came on the back of 3rd place at the Antalya ETU Triathlon Cup and gaining qualification for the Rio test event race which will be in August but India “wanted to prove she was in shape.” 

“I’m absolutely delighted with the win today – especially being in the front pack for the swim, I’m really pleased with that,” she said afterwards. “I’ve been working on the swim so it was great that it gave me a good set up for the bike. Then I worked hard with Sophie (Coldwell) on the bike so I could finish off with a strong run. It’s been a great day and I’m really happy.” 

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Were you racing at Blenheim today? Let us know in the comments below!

Leeds takes over as UK host of the World Triathlon Series after a long run at London’s Hyde Park, which will be under construction in 2016 to allow for the building of a cycling superhighway throughout the UK capital. 

London 2012 gold medallist Alistair Brownlee said: “Triathlon has come from a sport that hardly anyone knew about, to in 2016 there being a World Series race in my home city of Leeds.

“In Leeds the entire city is going to be behind the triathlon. It’s going to be the major event of the summer, and I think the whole city will get behind it. Hopefully hundreds of thousands of people are going to come out to support the sport.”

Amateur triathletes will have the opportunity to compete on the same course as the elite competitors in mass-participation races, and the event will be supported by a range of cultural activities in the build-up.

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Roundhay Park, Leeds (image credit: Shaun Gregory, Leeds City Council)

Roundhay Park will also host novice GO TRI events aimed at encouraging new triathletes to take up the sport. If you’re planning to come along as a competitor, spectator or volunteers, you can register interest here.

Here’s the schedule confirmed so far for the 2016 World Triathlon Series:

Abu Dhabi, UAE – March 4-5
Gold Coast, Australia – April, weekend dates TBC
Yokohama, Japan – May 14-15
Leeds, England – June 11-12
Stockholm, Sweden – July 2-3
Hamburg, Germany – July 16-17
Edmonton, Canada – TBC
Cozumel, Mexico – September 11-18

Distances for each race will be confirmed at a later date, and one final event could be added either prior to or after the Olympic qualification cutoff in May, which could slightly alter the current schedule and race dates. 

Cozumel, Mexico joins the World Triathlon Series for the first time next year as the site of the Grand Final, which will include Aquathlon, Age Group, Junior, and Under 23 World Championships as well as the final races that crown the elite men’s and women’s World Champion. 

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Will you be registering to race in Leeds? Let us know in the comments below!