Hyde Park racing royalty

Delly Carr / triathlon.org

No the Queen wasn't on the start line yesterday (although I have it on good authority she'd wear blueseventy if she was).  It was the royalty of triathlon women's racing on display yesterday for the Dextro ITU World Championships race in London.

The field was 68 deep and consisted of some of the biggest names in the sport including the winners of all the previous series races; Barbara Riveros Diaz (Sydney), Daniela Ryf (Seoul), Nicola Spirig (Madrid), and Lisa Norden (Hamburg), plus other top series contenders such Emma Moffat (No. 1 ranking) and Andrea Hewitt (No.2).

The swim was hard and fast, with Nicky Samuels commenting that the distance to the first buoy was very short meaning that the large pack at the turn resulted in a 'violent swim'.  Laura Bennett led out of the first lap of the swim and through to T1, where a group consisting of strong swimmers including Jodie Swallow, Kate Roberts and Paula Findlay headed out on to the bike eventually creating a lead group of 24 women who had more than half a minute on the second pack.

It was an exciting run with the lead pack of six women battling hard over the run, before dwindling to just four.  Someone was going to miss out on a podium spot in the close finish.  In the end 21 year old Paula Findlay managed to create a small gap in the last km of the race, running through to take the win - her first ever major victory.  Her run split of 33.51 was the fastest of the day.

Nicola Spirig took second, Helen Jenkins third (for the 2nd year in a row) and Andrea Hewitt was the unlucky one to miss the podium spot from the pack of four.

Delly Carr / triathlon.org

It was a good day for our blueseventy girls with three making the top 10:
Paula Findlay CAN (Gold) 01:51:48
Jodie Swallow GBR (7th) 01:52:45
Kate Roberts RSA (8th) 01:53:04

You can read the full race review on the ITU website here.

Warming up for London

It’s getting towards the business end of the season now with the last three races left on the Dextro Energy ITU World Champs series.  I’m not sure if it was my winning smile or the blueseventy t-shirt but I’m lucky enough to have got myself a sweet spot at the media briefing to grab a chance to hear the pre-race hype first hand.  Emma Moffat was running a little fashionably late (probably those damn tubes), but Javier Gomez and Alistair Brownlee are here on time to kick things off.

After the usual pre-raceEmma is introduced as having two passions – winning and shopping – the true competitive female triathlete.  She’s sounding pretty relaxed – she’s currently sitting in number 1 in the rankings.

Gomez talked about not being able to race at the start of the season but has come back feeling strong, doing some best times in training and coming off the back of his win at Hamburg he will be tough to beat.  He ran under 29.20 off the bike last week so his run fitness is sure back.  Man that is quick!

But not to be outdone on the comeback trail Brownlee has also shown that the break from racing due to a stress fracture as not dented his winning power with some convincing wins since his resurgence at Madrid.  These two heavy weights will go toe to toe for the first time this series with a win a piece each.  Gomez comes off a win last weekend at Hamburg but Brownlee chose to skip this race.

One journalist asked Gomez about the rivalry between he and Brownlee – “he’s very hard to beat.  You just try and run faster and faster each race”.  It’s scary to think how fast these guys will be off the bike by 2012!

Being an ‘insider’ today I get a few stats on media coverage that paint a pretty picture of the future of triathlon.  The event last year was covered by 35 broadcasters and reached about 1.6m viewers at peak viewing in the UK.  Showing that triathlon is still growing in it’s following, the ITU series will be screened by in – 49 international broadcasters in 146 countries.  We’ll overtake football as the most popular sport easy.  Well maybe.  Hey we can dream.

Congratulations to Bevan Docherty, Sarah Haskins and Samantha Warriner

blueseventy athlete Bevan Docherty (NZL) won a silver medal at the 2008 Elite Triathlon World Championships in Vancouver, Canada and fellow blueseventy athletes Sarah Haskins (USA) and Samantha Warriner (NZL) took the silver and bronze medals in the Elite women's race. We are super happy for them and proud beyond believe.

Alistair Brownlee you rock

Alistair Brownlee (GBR) won the 2008 ITU under 23 World Championships in stunning fashion and we are glad to know that his blueseventy helix wetauit served him well along the way.

You go Alistair.