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Sport England is hoping to do just that with its new GO TRI campaign, which aims to make multisport more accessible with shorter distances, low-cost race entry and give people the training and kit advice they need to get started. 

The project has been running since last year on a low-key basis, offering training sessions via gyms and health clubs along with a few pilot events, but is now ramping up for 2015 with the aim of attracting around 15,000 new participants to the sport by April 2016. 

It plans to do this with scores of small-scale events organised around the country by triathlon clubs, gyms and leisure centres at over 100 venues, with each event costing under £15 to enter.

The big initial push will be done via a weekend of multisport dubbed ‘GO TRI 1000’, taking place on the weekend of 25/26 April at around 36 venues around the country, with the aim of involving at least 1,000 new triathletes – though a spokesperson for Triathlon England tells us the actual number could be well in excess of that.

The intention is to provide dozens of small, informal events nationwide, along a similar model to the hugely successful Parkrun series. Triathlon England will be providing tri clubs, gyms and the like with an ‘event in a box’ containing all the necessary items to run a low-key triathlon, including risk assessment forms, flags, instructions and more. There’s no timing equipment though.

The campaign’s backers are also planning to involve Sport England’s ‘This Girl Can’ campaign which is making such a big impact at the moment, and may even run dedicated #thisgirlcan training sessions and race waves later this year. 

With one eye on London 2012’s sporting legacy, Sport England hope that GO TRI will become one of its big success stories and demonstrate that with the right positioning, people can be persuaded to get involved – and hopefully come back for more…

For more information and to find a GO TRI 1000 event near you, head to www.gotri.org.

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The race is being held in the spectacular South Loch Ness area, with two of the swim sections in Loch Ness itself (no word yet on whether Nessie will be on the water safety team). It started on 26 September at the historic Castle Urquhart and finishes in the shadow of the atmospheric Fort Augustus Abbey.

The race will involve 13 swims in total covering 8km across some very deep and dark water, and 12 runs totalling 53km. The race will be run under OtillO SwimRun rules. Entries for pairs of athletes will open this month on www.swimrunscotland.com.

(Images: Colin Henderson) 

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South Africa’s Bradley Weiss was coming off a win at Buffelspoort in South Africa, Ben Allen spent the winter in Australia and looked great and Mauricio Mendez is 19 and always ready.  For the women, World Champion Flora Duffy had also started her training in South Africa and Jacqui Slack was with Ben down under. 

The question mark was Renata Bucher, last year’s winner in the Philippines, who had suffered a bad ankle sprain and had considered not racing at all. Dimity-Lee Duke was looking quite slim and had been working on her biking skills, Mieko Carey lives in the tropics and was ready to race. Daz Parker was here after working hard with Johnny Depp (actually trying to kill him in the film ‘Out Of The Woods’).

Men’s race

And so things went in the big race. Ben and Mauricio were first out of the water with Flora right with them.  Brad was not far behind and quickly took control out on the bike turning in the fastest time of the day a bit over 2mins faster than Allen. 

Mendez is fast improving and came into T2 about 30secs behind Ben. His running is no longer a surprise after coming from 13th out of T2 to fifth at the finish on Maui and he dispatched the Aussie and set off after the Springbok.  Mo put in a 40 minute 9K and gained almost two minutes, but was still a minute behind Weiss at the finish.   

The run is reminiscent of Maui in that the first half is all uphill and the second half all downhill.  The difference being Maui’s sand is on a beach and Albay’s is on the way up Mayon volcano. 

Women’s race

Flora was first woman out of the water and kept the lead with the fastest bike and fastest run.  Indeed our world champ was 5th overall of the individuals bringing to mind Lesley Paterson’s phenomenal 4th here a few years ago. 

Jacqui was in great shape and similar to Flora had the second best swim, second fastest bike and third fastest run for the women and a very solid second step on the podium. Poor Mieko Carey was in third coming off the bike but was hurting on the run and Aussie Dimity-Lee Duke passed her for her first podium in an Xterra. She was simply bubbling with joy. 

So the expected happened. A few nice surprises to start the year were Dimity looking very strong and young Aussie pro Brodie Gardner with an impressive fourth place. Aya Stevens was back after an injury kept her out in 2014 and while not super-fast, did finish and finish healthy.

PRO MEN  

Pl

Name

Total

Swim

Bike

Run

1

Brad Weiss, RSA

2:28:00

16:53

1:29:25

41:42

2

Mauricio Mendez, MEX

2:28:58

16:21

1:32:36

40:01

3

Ben Allen, AUS

2:33:51

16:19

1:31:54

45:38

4

Brodie Gardner, AUS

2:40:35

18:31

1:37:50

44:14

5

Charlie Epperson, USA

2:51:20

21:04

1:46:28

43:48

6

Joe Miller, PHI

3:10:48

24:06

1:58:21

48:21

7

Michal Bucek, SVK

3:14:42

18:59

1:56:28

59:15

PRO WOMEN

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Pl

Name

Total

Swim

Bike

Run

1

Flora Duffy, BER

2:43:40

16:28

1:42:15

44:57

2

Jacqui Slack, GBR

2:56:51

18:25

1:47:39

50:47

3

Dimity-Lee Duke, AUS

3:03:18

20:18

1:54:08

48:52

4

Mieko Carey, JPN

3:06:39

19:51

1:51:43

55:05

5

Renata Bucher, SUI

3:12:53

21:06

1:52:34

59:13

6

Daz Parker, GBR

3:19:16

22:15

2:01:41

55:20

7

Aya Stevens, SVK

3:20:07

20:23

2:07:07

52:37

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(Images: Xterra)

Perfect conditions produced some super-fast swim times: Estonian Marko Albert led out of the water in 21:25mins followed closely by James Seear (AUS), with the main contenders including Alexander, Bowstead (NZL) and Appleton in the chase group.

Appleton opened up a 30-second lead on the chase pack early on in the 90km bike as Bell suffered a mechanical problem that forced him out of the race. Bowstead and Alexander pushed hard and, by the end of the bike leg, had closed the gap.

Alexander took the lead on to the 21.1km run, but Appleton was quickly onto his shoulder, where he remained until the last few kilometres when Alexander finally broke his young challenger.

“I put a lot of surges in today, on one of the downhills I was running sub-three minute kilometres, and I still couldn’t drop Sam,” Alexander said. “I was disappointed after Kona last year and took some time off; I trained through Christmas and actually feel fitter than I did last year at the same time.”

Women’s race

Before the women’s race Aussie favourites Rebekah Keat and Liz Blatchford had joked it would be a battle of the “unfittest”, but nothing could have been further from the truth. Blatchford, Rebekah Keat and Gina Crawford (NZL) led out of the water and then spent the entire bike leg within close sight of each other.

Keat knew she needed to build a lead on the bike and took off like a scalded cat. “I knew Liz and Gina were fit and I needed to go out hard and try and hold on,” she said afterwards. Blatchford took the opposite approach and held a steady pace, hoping Keat would hit a wall.

“I only had one pace today, so I just had to run my own race. Bek took off out of transition quickly and she got a minute up the road. I held steady and she blew up and started to come back to me, so I dug deep and managed to get the win. It was fun out there today,” Blatchford says. Crowley managed to overtake Crawford late in the run leg to claim third.

Results, elite men:

1. Craig Alexander (Australia) 3:46.26
2. Sam Appleton (Australia)  3:46.43
3. Mark Bowstead (New Zealand) 3:51.14
4. Jeffrey Symonds (Canada) 3:52.21
5. Marko Albert (Estonia) 3:54.48

Results, elite women:

1. Liz Blatchford (Australia) 4:19.34
2. Rebekah Keat (Australia) 4:20.03
3. Sarah Crowley (Australia) 4:20.52
4. Gina Crawford (New Zealand) 4:22.12
5. Amanda Wilson (Australia) 4:24.27

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Speaking to 220 yesterday, he says that the end of last season was one of the negative moments of his career: falling ill straight after WTS Stockholm (where he came fifth) with just one week to go until the Grand Final, throw in some missing luggage… It’s fair to say Edmonton was a washout for South Africa’s leading ITU racer, after some superb earlier results that included bronze at WTS Yokohama, silver in Hyde Park plus a bronze at the Commonwealth Games.

So what’s he been up to since then? Training, and lots of it, it seems. “After Edmonton I sat down with my coach and asked, ‘What do I need to do between now and Rio to put myself in the position to shoot for a medal every race?’ I looked into it and decided I had to go to Europe earlier than I had planned. I wanted to spend the summer in South Africa like I usually do, but decided to put in the hard miles at the pool. I think more time with the training squad and fewer events in 2015 is what’s going to be the change.”

To that end, Murray left South Africa at the end of November for a two-week training camp in Portugal, and has been in Majorca since the start of January for an intensive two-month training block, along with training partner and rival Mola – where it’s been snowing the past few weeks…

“The weather was a little bit fresh the last few days but yeah it’s definitely going well. The main priority of coming here was to put in a solid swimming block over these few months, and hopefully that will progress to the point where I’m further up in the swim come Abu Dhabi time.”

A whole lot of racing 

Of course, there’s even more to play for this season: in addition to earning enough points in this year’s 10-event World Triathlon series, there’s qualification for the Rio 2016 Olympics to factor into his race schedule. So how hectic is it looking?

“The big one for me is I will be qualifying for Rio, also the World Triathlon Series in Cape Town I’m looking forward to quite a bit. The Abu Dhabi WTS race in the first or second week of March is a big one, I love new events, the unknown is there which is always an interesting factor. Moving further down the season Hamburg and London are always great ones in Europe that I enjoy quite a bit.” 

He tells us that he doesn’t put a lot of emphasis on any one single race – “obviously apart from the Olympics” – but the season opener in Abu Dhabi must be ringed in red on his calendar, being a sprint distance event in hot and humid conditions, right?

“I think it’s going to be an interesting one. The temperature should be mid to high twenties, and it’s being held in the evening as well, so you’re going to have to plan things around that and see how the body is ready at that time of the afternoon. A podium is what I want, I’d love it to come down to a sprint finish like it was in London last year, that’s what the crowd wants. Mario is looking strong here on the camp, it’s definitely going to be an interesting event to watch.” 

Both Brownlees and reigning WTS champ Javier Gomez have already confirmed they’ll be there, but who else does he think could prove tricky? “João Pereira showed a very good season in 2014, he’s a very powerful athlete, very good in the sprint, and Sven Riederer is coming through as well, his sprint was very good in Stockholm last year. I think there are a couple of guys in the secondary pools who are going to be in the top three leaving the swim. We’ll see how it goes come Abu Dhabi!”

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So with many of the world’s top triathletes being attracted into racing the Challenge Triple Crown series, thanks to promises in equal measure of top prize purses and outstanding organisation, is he tempted to follow Gomez into the new series?

“I am not, no. I only looked at it the other week, thought “Oh lots of prize money, very interesting,” but it’s another of those things where you can’t do everything – unless you’re Javi [Javier Gomez]! Then you can race every weekend and do an Ironman 70.3 here, a sprint distance there, then a World Triathlon Series… To be able to do that is not easy, you need to do a lot of things right, you might walk away with injuries and fatigue, not medals and glory.

“There are obviously certain things that Javier does meticulously and in a certain way, he enjoys racing, he’s a racing character and he trains hard to do it. It’s not the easiest thing to do, but he’s a very strong and also more mature athlete than most of us, he’s got a couple of years on myself, the Brownlees and Mario [Mola]. When you’re 30 plus and you’ve got a bit more stamina and endurance in yourself you can actually do something like that, but when you’re young you should stick to what you’re good at and what you really want to do.”

Rio revelations

Looking ahead to Rio then, what’s he looking forward to most about the test event this August? “I’m kind of in two minds about doing it, it sounds funny but there’s no prize money, there’s positives and negatives about going to do it. But I definitely think going there and seeing the course is worth doing, there’s quite a hill on the bike as well, there are a couple of things that you want to plan and look at beforehand to take what you can away from the event. There’s going to be a lot of psyched people looking at it as well to see how people race, so it’s definitely going to be an important one.”

And what is the qualification criteria for the South African team? “I haven’t heard thus far, the African style is literally whoever’s the best will go, and that’s usually how my mindset goes. The criteria and everything can be there but that can put stress on the whole matter, every event is important for me. The African events are important for the African guys involved, the African champs in Sharm El Sheikh in Egypt this May, and also WTS Cape Town will be a very important one to do well at.”

Winter training tips

To wrap up, we asked Richard what tips he has for 220 readers trying to stay motivated through a cold British winter – a plight he’s sympathetic to, particularly given the recent snowfall in Majorca!

Snow in ye mountains this morning .. 🙂 #Yolo #Soller #Mallorca pic.twitter.com/CVbL1JtAz9

— Richard Murray (@RD_murray) February 1, 2015

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“Probably one of the biggest pieces of advice I can give is to plan your sessions – it’s quite difficult when the weather gets bad, your motivation levels are a bit low, so definitely saying: ‘This is what I’m going to do on that certain day.’ even if it’s just one or two sessions, to actually get out there and do it. Once you’ve got past the first half an hour or 40mins you usually think: ‘Ah that wasn’t so bad.’

Also joining groups – if the weather gets really bad, do it indoors with a couple of mates, you still get the session done. If you have the opportunity and lots of money lying around you can come to somewhere like Majorca, there’s definitely options for doing it, and it’s not horrendously expensive if you book well in advance. If you’re a top age-grouper and you’re able to tap into those type of things then a week or two definitely plays well on the body and the mind.” 

(Images: Delly Carr / Janos Schmidt)

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There may yet be hope for Iowa multisporters though, as the organiser plans to keep the triathlon going, according to reports – starting this summer. “We still have the permits for the city,” the Des Moines Register quotes race director Bill Burke as saying. “And we will be doing the new, inaugural Des Moines Triathlon.” 

With whopping prize purses of as much as $200k for the male and female victors (each), the Hy-Vee Triathlon pulled in some of the sport’s biggest names since 2007, including Britain’s Brownlee brothers, Javier Gomez (who won convincingly in 2012), 220 columnist Tim Don and Jodie Stimpson. 

“Winning the Hy-Vee Triathlon in 2014 was a highlight in my career, and I want to thank Hy-Vee for their tremendous support of the sport over the last eight years,” said US athlete Hunter Kemper. “A legacy has been created here. And I look forward to learning more about the new event series Hy-Vee will announce.”

The first Hy-Vee Triathlon in 2007 drew in just over 1,000 competitors, and peaked in 2012 at just shy of 3,000 athletes, before dropping slightly in terms of participation numbers to around 2,500 in 2014.

(Images: Delly Carr)

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Last year’s four-race Super Series was won by Mark Buckingham and Emma Pallant, with the latter winning all three races she competed in (Blenheim, Windsor and London) and finishing just ahead of India Lee and Jenny Manners.

Buckingham took the series title after coming second at Blenheim and first at Windsor and London, finishing ahead of David Bishop and Iestyn Harrett. 

What’s more, the London Triathlon will also host the new-for-2015 British Elite Standard Distance Triathlon Championships, which organisers IMG say should ensure a high calibre field of elites.

This year’s London Tri is expected to draw more than 13,000 athletes this year – for our gallery of last year’s event, click here. 

For more info on this year’s British Triathlon Super Series and British Elite Standard Distance Champs, head to the British Triathlon website.

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The one-day multisport festival will host more than 1,500 triathletes of all abilities, and will provide the first opportunity for aspiring members of the Great Britain Age-Group Team to book their place at the 2016 ITU Triathlon World Championships in Mexico.

“Tri Liverpool has hosted the British Triathlon Championships since 2013 and the event has gone from strength to strength in that time,” said British Triathlon’s Jon Ridgeon. “The City of Liverpool is the perfect setting with its historic docks and iconic buildings and athletes of all abilities can look forward to competing in front of tremendous crowds in a fantastic location.” 

Last year’s elite race drew top US athlete Gwen Jorgensen, though it was British junior Sophie Coldwell who nearly pulled off a famous victory, leading the 2014 WTS champ all the way to a tightly-contested finish on the last lap. The men’s elite race was cancelled due to worsening weather conditions. For a gallery head here.

Members of the Home Nations can purchase a discounted entry for a limited period. Full details of the entry fees and event distances on offer are available at www.triliverpool.com.

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For 2015 the show has been subtly renamed the 220 Triathlon Show and will again feature all your favourite 220 contributors, cutting-edge tri gear and the usual 10km run on Day 3. Plus we’ll be announcing the winners of this year’s 220 Awards (shortlist here). We look forward to seeing you there! 

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Day one, 2014

Day two, 2014

Day three, 2014

(All images: Nick Smith Photography)

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Don’t forget to check out our photo gallery of the 220 Awards 2014!