The annual shindig, that is the 220 Triathlon Awards were held last weekend at Stratford Town Hall in London, with Olympic legend Derek Redmond on hand to give out trophies to the winners.
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The annual shindig, that is the 220 Triathlon Awards were held last weekend at Stratford Town Hall in London, with Olympic legend Derek Redmond on hand to give out trophies to the winners.
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In his speech Derek spoke about the impact sport has had on his life, and that iconic moment when his hamstring went in the Barcelona Olympics and his father helped him cross the finishing line.
The beautiful Stratford Town Hall
Ian Whittingham from Sigma Sport making his way to receive Retailer of the Year
Ben Dijkstra getting up to collect his award
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For full details of all the winners and runners up from the awards please click here
My first Ironman race was at the end of 2010 in Cozumel – a beautiful Island off the coast of Mexico, which my then fiancée (now husband) Mark suggested it as our honeymoon. Anyway, the point is that our first Ironman was not planned for long, came shortly after we got married, and I went there just to finish.
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I did pretty well in that race all things considered, and I loved it. We told ourselves it would be a one off, and that there was no way we wanted to go all the way to Hawaii to race in this “Kona thing” that everyone talked of.
Six years on and that has all changed. Now racing as a professional on the Ironman and 70.3 circuit, my focus this season is to try and qualify for the race that founded our sport and continues to inspire thousands and create legends year after year. I qualified as an age grouper in 2014 and raced to an AG third place finish on the Big Island; the experience of racing there was incredible.
When I turned professional at the start of last year my eyes were not turned towards Kona at all, as qualifying as a professional is a whole different story, however I came very close, and it is that which I want to give an insight into now.
How professionals qualify for the Ironman World Championships
The World Triathlon Corporation (WTC) who organise the Ironman World Championships allocate 50 places on the start line at Kona for the professional men each year, and 35 for the professional women.
I find this inequality totally disgusting and it is sometimes hard to believe that it is actually true. Much has been written about why the WTC believe it is fair to discriminate and I don’t want to get into the arguments for and against- that would be one hell of a rant!
50 Women to Kona tackles ‘a very visible show of inequality’
Instead I want to give a flavour of what that number 35 actually means to me, and how a newbie PRO goes about trying to qualify.
To qualify to race as a professional at Kona you currently have to score points on the Kona Pro Ranking system – or KPR. This KPR is constantly updated as races are completed throughout the year and all athletes are ranked continuously depending on the points they have gathered. Athletes have up to five races to count but can race as many times as they like.
The tally of five can be up to three 70.3 races and up to three full Ironman races but athletes have to complete at least one full distance Ironman (outside of Kona). Races are allocated different points, but the majority of full Ironman races have 2000 points for the winner. The exception to this is the regional championships, of which there are five, which are 4000 points for the winner. Kona is an 8000 point race and points gathered there count towards the following year. 70.3 races carry much lower points, typically 500 or 750 for the winner. Sound complicated? That’s not even half of it. Previous winners of Kona from the past 5 years can qualify automatically by completing one full distance race, and those who win a regional championship also get an automatic slot.
Ok that’s enough of the confusion. Here are some facts about the PRO ladies which might help paint a picture:
In 2015 19 of the women who lined up had scored points at Kona the year before – and 12 of the top 15 from 2014 returned to race again. That means about 180 PRO ladies were competing for the other 15-20 slots (some of the above get an automatic place). So qualifying as a PRO rookie is really not easy. Kona is the “Olympics” of long distance triathlon so everyone wants to be there.
The ladies who are new to racing Kona are finishing an average of three full distance races in the qualifying year. Things go wrong during racing– so to get three good finishes probably requires lining up to start far more often.
This year the number of points needed to qualify as a female PRO will sit at about 4,500 for the July cut off where most of the places are allocated. Two Ironman podiums would give you about 3,000 points if you are lucky. So to qualify a female athlete would still need a third Ironman race and a couple of good 70.3 finishes. By contrast the July male PRO cut off was 3600 in 2015 and is likely to be 3500 in 2016.
In 2015 I actually came very close without realising until the last minute. I know now that qualifying for Kona requires a strategy. In 2015 I didn’t have one, mainly because I considered it to be out of my league. It is safe to say that my results last year were beyond my expectations.
Despite hard training and big improvements I had not in my wildest dreams thought that two full distance podium spots were possible. So after Ironman UK (where I gained my second podium spot) it was with mild incredulity that I realised I was in with a shout for Kona qualification. I “just” had to complete one final race.
Unfortunately my body (and mind) had other ideas. Despite going to Wiesbaden European 70.3 Championships with the very best of intentions, looking back I was masking a strong desire to just call it a day and hit off season with gusto. The race was a struggle from start to finish, and I didn’t get the top seven finish I hoped for. I was labelled one of the “missing 15” – ladies who would have qualified in 2015 had the number of places for men and women been equal. In fact I was only four places away from a slot in the rankings. I suspect there were many other ladies in similar positions when the final count was done – great results all year – just not great enough.
I enter the 2016 qualifying year with a plan. I will have to race four full distance Ironman races at the very least to be in with a shout. In 2015 I raced a total of eight 70.3 and Ironman races in just over eight months. As anyone will tell you – that number of races in one year is not good for the body and long term health. I hear people saying that “the PRO’s are used to racing a lot”.
Maybe these people believe we are superhuman recovery machines. The fact is I work full time, I squeeze racing into long weekends of unpaid leave, and I “recover” while eating porridge at my desk after an early-morning training session before a full day at work followed by another training session in the evening.
Recovering from an Ironman race does not get easier just because you buy a PRO licence. Yes – I know some PROs are full time athletes – but many are not. Most have second jobs to make ends meet or are studying/training for another profession so they have an income when they retire from sport.
Racing a lot is hard, it’s painful, and it’s riddled with periods of injury and exhaustion. By limiting our spots to just 35 the WTC are forcing the PRO ladies to race more, take more risks and compromise our bodies in the process.
I have already started my campaign for 2016 (the qualifying year started in September 2015) and have about 1100 points racked up having started three races.
So I face having to complete another three full Ironman races in the next few months. I will start with Lanzarote and make plans for the rest of the season after that. I have Ironman Nice in the calendar and Frankfurt too, but I am also not going to risk everything just for a spot in Kona.
However I also know that I am making demands of my body, which are not sustainable and probably not sane and I realise how truly difficult qualification is. I will have to have, for me anyway, exceptional races.
However this year finishes I know I won’t regret trying. If I hadn’t been so desperate to enjoy a holiday/honeymoon while I was baking in dusty Afghanistan I may have never completed one of these extreme races. But fear of failure is never a good excuse. Hell – we only get one chance at life what’s the point in playing it safe.
You can follow Caroline on Twitter and find out more about her plans for 2016 at her website
Caroline on the podium at Ironman UK Bolton in 2015 where she was 2nd.
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Photos courtesy of Finisher Pix
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With memories still fresh of a sun-soaked Glasgow hosting the Commonwealth Games in 2014, the city is once again preparing to host a major sporting showcase. And this time age-group triathletes could be invited to join the party.
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Announced in March 2015, the inaugural European Sport Championships have been created by the continental governing bodies of athletics, cycling, rowing and swimming, plus the European Triathlon Union.
The aim of the new four-yearly event (not to be confused with the rival European Games) is to ‘bring together the existing individual European Championships into one co-ordinated multisport concept’, with Berlin (athletics) and Glasgow (triathlon, cycling, rowing, gymnastics, aquatics and golf) announced as the co-hosts for the
1-12 August 2018 showcase.
“This is a really exciting step forwards for our sport,” said ETU President Renato Bertrandi. “We can anticipate having not only a domestic European audience but viewers from around the world. Our European athletes will have the chance to compete on a challenging course and to be seen globally. Instead of a standalone event, we’ll be part of an engaging programme of sports, which will enable greater media coverage than ever before.”
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The Commonwealth Games triathlon received a significantly larger worldwide TV audience than that year’s ITU World Champs, even though major triathlon nations such as Spain, the USA and Germany were absent from Glasgow.
Where triathlon differs from the other elite European Championships is that age-group athletes race over the same weekend and on the same course as the elites. So the 2018 Glasgow games could represent a break between the pro and age-group triathletes for one of the rare occasions in the European Championship’s 30-year history… or it could offer the tantalising prospect of the finest age-group triathletes being the only amateurs racing at the Games.
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A decision on any age-group involvement in Glasgow is due to be made imminently. If the amateurs are not to be included, the ETU will need to find a host for its age-grouper Euros in 2018. This year’s Euros are in Lisbon, with Austria hosting the 2017 edition.
Antihistamines could reduce the body’s ability to recover after vigorous exercise by nearly a third scientists have found.
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About 3,000 genes have been found to be responsible for aiding recovery, by boosting muscles and blood vessels, but in the presence of high doses of antihistamines almost 27 percent of the gene response is blunted, scientists from University of Oregon have found. However quite how these 795 affected genes could affect competitive athletes, however, is not known, said co-author John R. Halliwill, professor of human physiology.
Histamine is a substance in the body that responds to pollens, moulds, animal dander, insect bites and other allergens, however some people’s body goes in overdrive and fuels uncomfortable allergic reactions, prompting the use of antihistamines.
In the research, 10 men and six women, all 23-25 years old, physically fit and active, performed an hour of knee-extension exercise at 60 percent of their peak power, about 45 kicks per minute. Biopsies were done before and three hours after exercise to obtain samples of the quadriceps.
Eight participants took 540 milligrams of fexofenadine and 300 milligrams of ranitidine — levels nearly three times the recommended dosages of the over-the-counter antihistamines. Each target one of the two known histamine receptors involved in recovery responses. During exercise, blood flow, blood pressure and heart rate were monitored.
The antihistamines had no effect prior to exercise and little influence on gene expression at the conclusion of the workout. Three hours after exercise 88 percent of the 795 genes affected by the antihistamines mostly responded with lower levels of expression.
“Histamine, a substance that we typically think of negatively and is most often associated with seasonal allergies, is an important substance contributing to the normal day-to-day response to exercise in humans,” said Romero, In their conclusion, the authors noted that the research highlighted only a small fraction of genes likely involved in signalling pathways influenced by histamine receptors activation during recovery.
However it is to early in the research to suggest people should avoid taking antihistamines when they exercise, Halliwill said.
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“We’ve got more work that we have to do,” he said. “We need to do a training study in which we put people on histamine blockers and see if their adaptations to exercise training are as robust or diminished. There are a lot of redundancies in physiological systems. I wouldn’t be surprised if blocking histamine receptors ends up being overcome by something else, but I also wouldn’t be surprised if we can demonstrate that some responses to exercise training do become blunted if you take high doses of histamine blockers.”
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Washington — Fulfilling President Trump’s vow, the U.S. government officially announced on Monday it would cut millions of dollars in foreign aid to Central America, warning governments in the region that assistance will only resume when they do more to prevent their citizens from migrating.
The move, which the president ordered in late March, disrupts a long-standing pillar of American foreign policy supported by most Democrats and Republicans in Congress. Lawmakers had been urging the administration to reverse course, fearing the end of American assistance will only exasperate the rampant poverty, deep-rooted political instability and widespread insecurity in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala, collectively known as the “Northern Triangle.”A State Department official said $432 million in aid allocated in fiscal year 2017 will continue, while $185 million would be withheld until the U.S. determines that Central American governments have taken sufficient steps to reduce migration. The approximately $370 million allocated for fiscal year 2018, meanwhile, will be suspended entirely. The official said the administration will work with Congress to reprogram these funds to other “foreign policy priorities.”
Future aid under fiscal years 2019 and 2020 will also be conditional, the official added. Funds allocated in fiscal years 2017 and 2018 to help governments in the Northern Triangle bolster security and crack down on transnational gangs will continue. Aid workers spearheading efforts to remedy these systemic problems in the region have warned the decision will backfire, penalizing poor and working-class Central Americans for the failures of their elected leaders and fueling more migration to the U.S. Most of the aid allocated by the U.S., including by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is sent directly to non-governmental organizations (NGOs), not governments in the Northern Triangle.But the president has faulted the governments in these countries — as well as Mexico — for failing to curb a months-long unprecedented surge of Central American migrant families and unaccompanied children heading towards the U.S.-Mexico border. The State Department said some of the aid — as well as future assistance — could be distributed if these countries take “concrete actions” to help reduce the number of apprehensions at the southern border, which reached a 13-year high last month.The announcement drew quick condemnation from congressional Democrats. “Cutting off desperately-needed aid to Central America is not the answer to fixing our immigration system,” Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada wrote on Twitter. “In fact, it would exacerbate the crisis, driving children and families to our southern border.”Earlier this month, through a threat to impose tariffs on Mexican goods, Mr. Trump pressured the Mexican government to hammer out a bilateral agreement to stem the flow of migration from Central America. Mexico vowed to deploy of thousands of National Guard units to the Mexico-Guatemala border, while the U.S. pledged to immediately expand the “Remain in Mexico” policy, officially called the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), along the entire southern border.
Christina Ruffini contributed reporting.
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These prestigious annual awards celebrate the outstanding achievements of sportsmen and sportswomen around the world and other great names recognised included tennis players Serena Williams and Novak Djokovic, and the Kiwi rugby team the All Blacks.
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The Laureus World Action Sportsperson of the Year is Jan Frodeno! #LWSA16 #janfrodeno #ironman #laureus #laureus #berlin
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Larger than life for a brief moment on the sport worlds biggest stage. What an amazing journey our sport has sent me on and what an amazing time to be in the game of triathlon. Grateful to share this truly happy, nerve wrecking, grateful and breath taking night with my best friend and wife @emmafrodeno . Off for a run to celebrate a way only an endurance freak might appreciate… @laureussport #LWSA16 #WorldActionSportsmanOfTheYear
In 2015 Jan Frodeno became the first Olympic champion to win the Ironman World Championship with a dominating triumph in Hawaii. In July Jan Frodeno has announced he will go for the long distance world record at Challenge Roth.
The Laureus World Sports Awards, were held in Berlin on April 18, 2016. This was the event’s first return to Europe since London in 2012, after taking place in leading sports cities around the world in recent years, including Rio de Janeiro and Shanghai.
Among the sporting greats who have been named as winners of Laureus Awards since 2000 are Usain Bolt, Novak Djokovic, Michael Schumacher, Roger Federer, Serena Williams, Alex Ferguson, Lewis Hamilton, Rafael Nadal, Pelé, Steve Redgrave, Ronaldo, Kelly Slater, Shaun White, Yelena Isenbayeva and Zinedine Zidane.
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You can find a list of the Laureus World Sports Awards 2016 winners here
The International Triathlon Union (ITU) have announced that the elite races at the 2016 Kitzbuehel ITU Triathlon World Cup have been cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances. However, the junior races will continue as planned, and will be organised with the time-trial format that was scheduled to debut at the elite races.
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“Despite our best efforts to identify a solution, in the end we were unsuccessful. Therefore, we believe that it is in the best interest of all to cancel this year’s World Cup race as soon as possible to allow for Federations and athletes to change their race and travel plans. We do apologize for any inconvenience this causes, and hope to return as a host of ITU races in the future,” said Event Director Herwig Grabner.
“We are disappointed we will not be able to contest the World Cup race in Kitzbuehel this year, a city that has a storied history of hosting successful of ITU events. However, we remain committed to debuting new formats and will therefore introduce the time-trial format in the junior race so that we can explore how this format could be incorporated in future events,” said ITU President and IOC Member Marisol Casado.
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To date, the Kitzbuehel World Cup will not be replaced on the 2016 schedule.
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A new global half distance championship triathlon event for professional and age group triathletes alike, organised by Challenge Family, is to take place in Samorin, Slovakia on June 3, 2017.
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Known as ‘The Championship’, the event will take place at the incredible x-bionic® sphere in Samorin, Slovakia. Jan Masek, CEO of x-bionic® sphere said: “ We are thrilled to host The Championship and are committed to providing triathletes from across the globe with a truly unforgettable experience at x-bionic® sphere.”
For professional athletes the event will carry a minimum €150,000 professional prize purse, and professional athletes will be able to qualify for The Championship via Challenge Family events worldwide.
Professional athletes who finish in the top five at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, or a top three finish in the 2016 World Triathlon Series end of season rankings, 2016 ITU Long Distance Championship, 2016 Ironman World Championship or 2016 Ironman 70.3 World Championship will also receive an invite. Challenge Samorin 2016 will carry double the qualifying slots for the event.
Professional athlete’s qualifying at non-Challenge Family events will be required to validate at a Challenge Family event within the qualifying period, which commences at Challenge Fuerteventura 2016 and concludes at Challenge Rimimi 2017.
Age group athletes will have the opportunity to qualify with a top five age group finish at any Challenge Family event worldwide during the qualification period. Top 3 teams in the male, female and mixed categories in relay events will also qualify at Challenge Family events.s
Three hundred loyalty slots are available to any age group athlete who participates in at least four Challenge Family events within the qualification period. Loyalty spots are awarded on a first-come-first-served basis for athletes who meet the minimum participation criteria. Loyalty slots are not dependent on an athlete’s race time or finish position.
“At Challenge Family we’re driven by the same thing that drives our athletes: the passion to push limits, to perform at our best and to enjoy what we do in style. The Championship embodies this and it is our goal to set the new standard in triathlon,” said Zibi Szlufcik, CEO of the Challenge Family.
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The Championship comprises of a 1.9km swim, 90km bike and 21.1km run and is to be an annual event.
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Dark chocolate has similar performance benefits to beetroot and can give you an extra edge in your fitness training scientists from Kingston University have discovered.
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“Beetroot juice is rich in nitrates, which are converted to nitric oxide in the body. This dilates blood vessels and reduces oxygen consumption – allowing athletes to go further for longer,” explained postgraduate research student Rishikesh Kankesh Patel
The Kingston University team wanted to find out whether dark chocolate could provide a similar boost, as it contains a substance called epicatechin – a type of flavanol found in the cacao bean, that also increases nitric oxide production in the body.
After undergoing initial fitness tests to establish a baseline for comparison, a group of nine amateur cyclists were then split into two groups. The first group was asked to replace one of its normal daily snacks with 40g of a dark chocolate known to be rich in flavanols for a fortnight, while the other participants substituted 40g of white chocolate for one of their daily snacks as a control.
The effects of the athletes’ daily chocolate consumption were then measured in a series of cycling exercise tests in the sports performance laboratory. The cyclists’ heart rates and oxygen consumption levels were measured during moderate exercise and in time trials. After a seven-day interval, the groups then switched chocolate types and the two-week trial and subsequent exercise tests were repeated.
The study, which has now been published in the Journal of the International Society of Sports Nutrition, found that after eating dark chocolate, the riders used less oxygen when cycling at a moderate pace and also covered more distance in a two-minute flat-out time trial.
Mr Patel said the results opened the door for more research which could eventually lead to dark chocolate becoming a staple part of endurance athletes’ diets.
“Both dark chocolate and beetroot juice are known to increase nitric oxide, which is the major mechanism we believe is behind these results,” Patel said. “We found that people could effectively exercise for longer after eating dark chocolate –something that’s not been established before in this way.”
“We want to see whether the boost in performance is a short term effect – you eat a bar and within a day it works – or whether it takes slightly longer, which is what the initial research is showing,” Mr Patel said. “We are also investigating the optimal level of flavanols. At the moment there is not a lot of consistency in flavanol levels in commercially-available chocolate. Once we’ve found the optimal chocolate dose and duration, we’ll compare its effects to those of beetroot juice, and also test the influence of combining consumption of both, as they produce an increase in nitric oxide in slightly different ways.”
Sport analysis lecturer James Brouner, who is an ultra-distance runner in his spare time, said that the research suggested dark chocolate could offer particular benefits to endurance athletes.
“From a performance perspective, making an athlete more efficient can have major advantages in long duration steady-state exercise,” he said. “With so many athletes consuming beetroot juice to achieve this gain but complaining of the palatability, dark chocolate could have a similar effect but with the additional benefit of tasting good too.
“When performing endurance-based activity, being as economical as possible in energy provision is key to enhancing your performance. From our results, the consumption of dark chocolate has altered the participants’ response to the activity and therefore could enhance their endurance performance.”
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Related: Sports nutrition news: omega-3, beetroot, caffeine & nitrates
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Improving strength and stamina
Some of the world’s most acclaimed nutritionists, including Louise Burke of the Australian Institute of Sport and Team Sky’s James Morton, have joined forces to formulate sports-nutrition strategies for training in Olympic year.
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The authors also say there’s credible evidence that the following ergogenic aids improve strength and stamina: caffeine, creatine, sodium bicarbonate, beta-alanine and nitrates. The team highlights the emergence of vitamin D, too, showing that the science suggesting that vitamin D encourages muscle regeneration does add up.
Finally, the team looks at compounds such as epicatechin, nicotinamide riboside, resveratrol, beta-hydroxy beta-methylbutyrate, phosphatidic acid and ursolic acid that may also promote skeletal muscle adaptations to endurance and strength training, though studies of these compounds have largely been limited to rats.
>>> Dark chocolate found to improve endurance
Benefits of organic meet
It’s official: organic meat is better for you than non-organic. A team of 25 researchers undertook a meta-analysis examining how nutritional content varied between organic and non-organic red meats. Though the evidence wasn’t strong enough to verify differences in antioxidant and mineral content, it did show that organic meat contains 47% more omega-3 than the non-organic alternative. This is good news for triathletes, because this polyunsaturated fatty acid has been proven to improve recovery, reduce muscle soreness after exercise and even increase fat metabolism.
Beetroot
First it was claimed that beetroot (rich in nitrates) sent endurance through the roof, then it was labelled a memory enhancer. Now nitrates have been shown to improve neuromuscular function.
A study from Ohio, USA, assessed isometric and dynamic contractions in 14 resistance-trained athletes before and after three days of nitrate supplementation. The nitrate hit resulted in higher mean peak electromyography amplitudes: electrical signals travelled that bit faster. So nitrate supplementation could enhance muscle activation, leading to greater power and speed.
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Related:
Healthy eating: sports supplements vs nutritious food
Good carbohydrate nutrition: keep your intake in control
Nutritional supplements lowdown: when and what to take
How to order a healthy takeaway
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