Chattanooga in Tennessee has been chosen as the host the 2017 Ironman 70.3 World Championships. The championship race will be a two-day event with the professional and age-group women racing on Saturday 9 September 2017 and the professional and age-group men racing on Sunday 10 September.
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After its European debut in Austria in 2015, the 2016 70.3 World Champs shifts to the Southern Hemisphere for the first time – in Queensland, Australia’s Sunshine Coast – before returning to North America in 2017.
Ironman expects more than 185,000 registered athletes to race at over 100 Ironman 70.3 races around the world throughout the 2017 qualifying season. From those races, more than 4,000 athletes will qualify to race in the 2017 70.3 Worlds.
Home of Quintana Roo bikes, Chattanooga is an outdoor sports honeypot that already hosts a full Ironman (won last week in a sprint finish by Estonia’s Kirill Kotsegarov). The 70.3 event had a successful debut in May 2015, attracting over 2,000 athletes in its sell-out debut.
Chattanooga provides a fast course with a swim in the Tennessee River. Four bridges cross the river over the swim and a pedestrian Riverwalk runs along the entire swim course making it ideal for spectators, before the bike heads out to the rolling Tennessee hills.
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More info is at: www.ironman.com/ironman-70.3/world-championship
As part of its expansion for 2016, multisport coaching specialist Triathlon Training Spain is relocating its training camp base to the Bonalba Hotel in Mutxamel, Alicante, Spain. The 4-Star hotel is tucked away in the heart of a well-established golf course resort.
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Martin Hill, Triathlon Training Spain co-founder, a BTF Level 3 Coach and Certified Swim Smooth Coach, said, “To say we’re excited is an understatement. Thanks to increasing demand for our personal and tailored coaching camps, we can’t wait to kick off our new partnership with the Bonalba Hotel, which is just a 40-minute journey from Alicante airport.
“We can now offer all the facilities expected from a 4-Star hotel. In-keeping with our current approach, all our camps at Bonalba will be fully inclusive of airport transfers, food, coaching and attention to detail. Plus, with iconic bike climbs on the doorstep, a large leisure open air pool at the hotel and accessible trails for running – this is the perfect location to plan your pre-season training camp.”
With each training camp limited to six attendees, the team retains a maximum coach to athlete ratio of 1:6; although the ratio is typically 1:4. Starting in November this year, Triathlon Training Spain will run new camps with the Bonalba Hotel. These include specialist Swim Smooth Clinics and Swim-Triathlon Camps. Triathlon Training Spain will also continue to run camps at its Casa de Triatlo facility.
A number of camps are already full, although there is currently availability on:
17 October – One Day Swim Clinic / Triathlon Camp (Oxley Sports Centre, Sherborne, Dorset, UK)
13-11 November – Swim Smooth Clinic (Bonalba Hotel, Spain)
27-30 November – Swim Smooth Clinic (Bonalba Hotel, Spain)
4-7 December – Swim Smooth Clinic (Bonalba Hotel, Spain)
26 March – 2 April 2016 – Swim Smooth / Triathlon Camp (Bonalba Hotel, Spain)
The luxury Bahamian Island House Hotel and the private island of Highbourne Clay will host the Island House Invitational Triathlon between 6-8 November, and will test the world-class field over a number of race formats over the three-day event.
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The event will mix ‘short-course speed with long-course endurance’, with a short individual time-trial taking place on day 1 (500m swim/8km bike/2km run) a draft-legal multi-lap race on day 2 (three laps of 500m swim/13km bike/3.3km run) and finally a non-drafting sprint-distance race on the last day. The prize purse is one of the largest ever offered for a triathlon event, and is rumoured to be in the region of $500,000.
The two races on Highbourne Clay won’t be accessible to the public and the entire event is strictly invitational, with the confirmed start list so far reading like a who’s who of professional triathletes. Javier Gomez, Gwen Jorgensen, Richard Murray, Mirinda Carfrae and Tim Don are all confirmed amongst the 19 athletes invited to race.
Richard Murray and five-times ITU World Champion Javier Gomez, just two from the huge list of world-class triathletes whol will be competing in November
Mark Holowesko, the financier behind the race and owner of the Island House Hotel in Nassau, has devised a cycling-influenced structure to the huge prize-fund, which will include leader’s jerseys for fastest swimmer, cyclist and runner individually and an overall male and female winner’s jersey at the end of the event.
Pro triathletes Beth Gerdes and Luke McKenzie are the directors of the race (McKenzie is racing himself) with Gerdes telling Triathlete.com that the prologue stage being held on Nassau was a compromise to allow them to host the rest of the event on the private island of Highbourne Clay: “Stage 1 will be held on Nassau at the Island House, and Highbourne Cay is a remote island in the Exuma chain, which would make spectating the entire event difficult this year unless you have a sailboat or sea plane – although it will definitely make for good TV!”
There will be social media coverage and live tracking of the races as it happens, and the event will be televised in January 2016.
Men’s line-up
Javier Gomez Richard Murray Aaron Royle Ben Hoffman Tim Don Luke McKenzie Leon Griffin Barrett Brandon Trevor Wurtele
Women’s line-up
Gwen Jorgensen Rachel Joyce Leanda Cave Heather Wurtele Lisa Norden Lauren Brandon Mirinda Carfrae Rachel Klamer Nicola Spirig Alicia Kaye
You can find out more about the event at www.islandhousetriathlon.com
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What do you think of this exciting new format, and who do you think will win? Let us know in the comments!
Ewan Brown and Natalie Seymour’s wins at the Snowman Triathlon last weekend has led to both being crowned the Always Aim High Tri Series champions.
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The Always Aim Tri Series consists of three triathlons – the Slateman, Sandman and Snowman. The champion is determined by the individuals who have accumulated the best time over the three races.
Going into the Snowman Triathlon both Brown (pictured) and Seymour had established comfortable leads in the Tri Series, meaning that they could, in theory, ease off at what is one of the UK’s toughest triathlons. Yet both Brown and Seymour displayed a killer instinct and won the tri series in style by storming around the Snowman Triathlon course and finishing in first place.
As a result of winning the AAH Tri Series, Brown and Seymour will jet off to the island of Nevis in the Caribbean for an all-expenses trip as a reward for their feats throughout the Tri Series races. Furthermore, both Brown and Seymour will race in one of the world’s most beautiful events, The Nevis Triathlon.
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Head to www.alwaysaimhighevents.com for info on AAH’s events.
With a swim in the turquoise Tyrrhenian Sea, a rolling bike in the Tuscan Archipelago and a marathon run through the resort of Marina di Campo, the Elbaman is the jewel in the Italian triathlon crown.
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Held since 2005 and annually sold-out months in advance, the setting for the Elbaman is Elba, Italy’s third-largest Island after Sicily and Sardinia, and located 20km west from the mainland.
The 11th edition kicked-off at 7am on 27 September with two 1.9km swim laps in the warm 20°C plus waters of Marina di Campo Bay, before athletes exited onto the bay’s golden sands and commenced the three 60km loops (totaling 2,500m of elevation gain) around the island’s western peninsula.
With a pre-race goal to break the course record of 9:39hrs, the brilliantly named reigning champ, Lucky Berlage of Belgium, led the field at the halfway stage and would continue to dominate onto the three-lap marathon run. In rising September heat, Berlage broke the tape in 9:26hrs to overcome Alessandro Alessandri’s 2007 Elbaman record.
Winning the women’s in full-distance race was Caroline Engelke-Horn, with the middle-distance winners being Marta Bernardi in the women’s event and Gabriel Hopf in the men’s.
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The 12th edition of the Elbaman takes place on 25 September 2016, with entry opening soon at www.elbaman.it.
From Saturday 31 October to Thursday 12 November 2015, the Mammut/GORE-TEX European Outdoor Film Tour (E.O.F.T.) will be visiting UK shores. The UK tour will visit London, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Sheffield, Manchester and Birmingham.
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Marking its 15th anniversary, the E.O.F.T. will be headlined by a short film extreme alpinist Tamara Lunger, alongside a wide range of exciting short films. These adventures include trail running, longboarding, horseback riding, ice-climbing, single track riding, extreme climbing, snow freeriding and slacklining.
In 2001, the tour consisted of a total of 16 showings across Germany, featuring two hours of 8 hair-raising films. Today, the film tour keeps more than 200,000 fans on the edge of their seats with more than 300 events in 14 countries across Europe.
UK screening and venue details
Sat, 31/10/15 – Royal Geographical Society, London
Strava users can now compare themselves and their fellow countrymen with others across the globe with the release of the new Strava Insights data.
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The visualisation platform shows the fitness habits of similar communities in twelve major world cities, namely Amsterdam, Barcelona, Berlin, London, Los Angeles, Melbourne, Milan, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Sao Paulo and Sydney.
Info includes the most popular routes in each city, cities with the fastest runners and cyclists, cities with the most marathoners and facts like the most active times of day in each city.
Unsurprisingly, Londoners are most active between the hours of 7am-9am and 5pm-7pm. They also log the most rides and runs of all, however lag behind on speed and distance. In bike-mad Amsterdam the average length of a ride uploaded is over 40km, whereas Parisians average a swift 8:56mins per mile as opposed to London’s 9 minute mile average.
Paris is home to the fastest runners based on average pace, whilst Londoners are the most prolific Strava users
Over ten million Strava activities have been logged in London over the last 12 months, and the capital is also top for commuting, with almost 10,000 journeys to work uploaded every day.
Curious about how runners and cyclists in major global cities stack up? Here are some of the stats and rankings in so far:
City that is the most active before work
Syndey, Australia – 45% of bike rides and 30% of runs happen between 5:00 – 8:00 a.m.
Most active day
13/05/2015 – on the day of the London to Paris bike ride, 37,226 users logged cycling activity on Strava, the most active day of all 12 cities recorded in the last year.
Fastest city dwellers (running pace per mile)
Paris — 8:56/mi London — 9:00/mi Berlin — 9:11/mi & Melbourne — 9:11/mi Milan — 9:13/mi New York City — 9:15/mi Amsterdam — 9:19/mi Sydney — 9:33/mi Barcelona — 9:41/mi San Francisco — 9:47/mi Los Angeles — 10:26/mi São Paulo — 10:45/mi
London — 12,888 San Francisco —5,479 Amsterdam — 4,678 Los Angeles — 4,528 Paris — 4,200 Barcelona — 3,485 New York City — 2,698 Melbourne — 2,255 Sydney — 1,912 Berlin — 1,397 Milan — 1,241 São Paulo — 1,170
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You can view the data that interests you most on Strava here.
With annual World and European Cups, and the European Championships in 2013, the Olympic-distance side of triathlon has established itself a foothold in Turkey. For athletes going longer, however, the tri scene has long been berefit of races.
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That’s all set to change on 25 October when the Ironman juggarnaut rocks up in Turkey for the first time when it arrives at the Gloria Hotels & Resorts complex in Antalya.
The Gloria Ironman 70.3 Turkey was launched at the Ironman Worlds in Hawaii last year, with organisers expecting more than 2,500 participants from over 50 nations in the 1.9km swim/90km bike/21.1km run event.
The race organisers are promising stunning nature, turquoise sea and historical sites in Antalya and Belek. The swim start and T1 will take place at Belek beach, with T2 set in the newly-opened sports complex of the Gloria Sports Arena. The race organiser is the Gloria Hotels & Resorts and guests can be accommodated in the Gloria Hotels and Resorts.
70.3 Turkey course details
The calm Mediterranean Sea of the Turkish Riviera hosts the 1.9km swim, the 90km bike leads through scenic countryside, canyons, sea views of the Med, and some of the best amphitheatres of the Roman era including Aspendos. The 21.1km run passes the picturesque landscape of the 45-hole golf course of the Gloria Hotels & Resorts, ending at the finishing line in the new stadium of the Gloria Sports Arena.
The destination of Belek is one of the fastest growing tourism regions of Turkey due to ist good infrastructure and accessibility, and also the mild climate throughout the whole year, which is ideal for athletes. The complex allows professional athletes and amateurs on an area of 105,000 square meters to train more than 50 indoor and outdoor sports.
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Entries for the Gloria Ironman 70.3.Turkey close on 18 October here, and hotel bookings can be made directly via www.gloria.com.tr.
Major bike brand Giant has launched its all-new Trinity triathlon bikes this week in Hawaii during the build-up to Saturday’s Ironman World Champs. The new range of composite triathlon bikes includes two series: Trinity Advanced Pro and Trinity Advanced.
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A fully UCI-legal time trial version of the new bike, the Trinity Advanced Pro TT, is also being introduced as a frameset for road racers.
The flagship Trinity Advanced Pro model, which is being raced at Kona by top Ironman pro Tim Van Berkel, is engineered and designed with the aim to be the world’s fastest tri bike in real-world racing conditions. Key features include Giant’s AeroSystem Shaping Technology and a number of tri-specific features, including the AeroVault integrated hydration and storage system.
“One of the things I love most about this new Trinity Advanced Pro is that it’s a full-on race-ready machine right out of the box,” said Van Berkel, who won last month’s Ironman 70.3 Sunshine Coast race on a prototype model. “From the aerodynamic frame and fork shapes to the new geometry and positioning and integrated hydration and storage – it’s everything you need to go faster in training and racing.”
Using Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) analysis and wind-tunnel testing, more than 250 frame configurations were developed and tested before the Trinity Advanced Pro design was finalised.
BOLD AMBITIONS
The final version of the Trinity Advanced Pro was tested alongside four key competitors at the wind-tunnel. Going against the Cervélo P5, Scott Plasma 5, Trek Speed Concept and Specialized Shiv, all outfitted with hydration and storage systems, the Trinity, say Giant, proved to be the most aerodynamic as a complete race-ready unit.
The 2016 Trinity triathlon range features two options: the Trinity Advanced Pro, which comes stock with the AeroVault System, AeroDrive Tri components and integrated rear brake fairing; and the Trinity Advanced, which features the same Advanced-grade composite frame but without the integrated AeroVault system, rear brake fairing and AeroDrive fork, stem and base bar.
For road racers, the Trinity Advanced Pro TT frameset features the same Advanced-grade composite frame along with a special AeroDrive TT Advanced-grade fork, stem and handlebar that’s UCI legal for time trial competition. The TT frameset was developed and tested with pro riders from Team Giant-Alpecin. Pre-production versions of the frame have already been ridden to victories at major pro races including Tom Dumoulin’s stage win at the Vuelta a España.
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The range of new Giant Trinity triathlon and TT bikes will be available in select markets through Giant retailers starting in November. For more information over the coming weeks, keep an eye on Giant’s website.
A triathlon-styled challenge, set by British European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut Tim Peake, and funded by the UK Space Agency, was announced today at a World Space Week event attended by 175 children and hosted by the Cool Aeronautics team. Named the Space to Earth Challenge, it’s one of a number of educational opportunities on offer as part of Tim Peake’s Principia mission this December.
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When Tim Peake moves into his new home in space – the International Space Station (ISS) – he would like children across the UK to exercise alongside him as he trains two hours a day in the world’s highest and fastest-moving gym – travelling at 27,600 km per hour, and circling the world every 90 minutes.
“While exercising so far away in space I will have some amazing views, although I will miss the sights, sounds and fresh air of planet Earth,” said Peake. “I hope students across the UK will join me in my training and share what they see as they work out back on Earth.”
Peake is especially keen on space-based training that will support his triathlon interests in cycling, running and swimming. Schools taking part in the Space to Earth Challenge will be encouraged to create their own ‘spaceathlons’ of a trio of space, sport and science activities. The schools who can demonstrate the most innovation and engagement in the activities will be invited to take part in a unique visit to the European Astronaut Centre in May 2016. Other prizes available for schools taking part include a diving class from the expert team at Blue Abyss.
The distance of 400km is just one of a series of space-themed sports and science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics (STEAM) challenges that students can try. The sports and science challenges have been designed by experts from the European Astronaut Centre, British Triathlon Trust, University of Cambridge, Kings College London, Blue Abyss, LFT Consulting, The Institution of Engineering and Technology and Durham University. Further resources are being developed by the University of Southampton, Queen Mary University of London, Teesside University and Manchester Metropolitan University and the United Learning Trust. Creative challenges have been set by the Ideas Foundation and will be announced at the World Skills Show.
Schools across the country can sign up for the FREE challenge and resources on: www.spacetoearthchallenge.org.uk
About Tim Peake
Tim Peake will be the first British ESA astronaut to live and work on the ISS. His mission, named Principia after Newton’s world-changing three-part text on physics, Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, is scheduled to begin in December 2015. While on-board the ISS he will be using the unique environment of space to run experiments as well as trying out new technologies for future human exploration missions. More about Tim Peake and the education and outreach projects linked to his mission can be found on the Principia website: www.principia.org.uk