Posted: January 11, 2005

Triathlon: Irish Triathlon Forum Overview

Triathlon Ireland, the national governing body for the Olympic sport of Triathlon in Ireland, held its AGM last Sunday 9th Jan. Among the many topics and announcements on the agenda was the fact that the organisation witnessed a 28% rise in membership in the last 12 months. The phenomenal growth seen in this sport in the last few years does not look like ending, it is up 59% in the last two years alone.

Triathlon Ireland President Hugh McAtamney gave a review of the year, highlighting some of the achievements at the 2004 World Championships and the great races which were held in Ireland. He detailed the progression seen in all areas of the sport from race organisation to athlete development and announced the organisations ambitious plans for the coming year. These plans were laid out in the first ever TI triathlon forum held on Saturday 8th Jan. (summary details attached) (photo of Hugh and Jasmine Flatters British Triathlon Association (BTA)President at this forum also attached)

The first steps were taken on the Road to Beijing 2008, where we plan to have Irish athletes competing at the most prestigious sporting event of them all. The Olympic Games. We have been working closely with the ISC and have agreed on a new carding system and qualification criteria. TI also sent representatives to the first ever world triathlon conference and congress last year organised by the International Triathlon Union (ITU).

The 2005 race calendar was announced comprising of over 45 events. We will have at least 3 new triathlons on the calendar in Schull, Dundalk and Wicklow. The first of the domestic events will take place on Sun. Feb. 6th, the Limerick Duathlon (run/cycle/run). The first triathlon will also be held in Limerick on Sun. 3rd April and will be aimed at beginners. The Triathlon Ireland Premier League was also launched. It is a two-tiered league of Irelands best races which will be used to showcase the sport to the country and attract potential sponsors.

This is just a short review of the Triathlon forum held on Saturday 8th Jan 2005.
A more detailed review will be posted on the new TI website www.triathlonireland.com.

This forum was a great success. There was a larger than expected turnout, with most TI affiliated triathlon clubs represented. Triathlon Ireland are grateful to all those who travelled from ever corner of Ireland to listen to the speakers and join in the discussions.

Summary
- Race Organisation
- New Event Manual released
- New Premier League launched
- Athlete Development + Funding
- 2005 Elite Squad announced
- Beijing 2008 Qualification
- Elites racing abroad
- New coaching opportunities in Ireland

Morning session
John Lunt from Human Race UK, aided by Jasmine Flatters, British Triathlon Association's newly elected president gave a lot of pointers in all aspects of race organisation which should help an organiser to run his first ever race or make one of the well established races even better.
Comparisons were made between how professional TI has become and the BTA, even though TI is run by volunteers and the BTA has 56 full time staff with a budget of £2.3million.

Stewart Tosh has prepared an 80+ page manual of guidance in running a Triathlon Ireland race. It adopts the ITU guidelines and incorporates the new TI rule book.
This is a very detailed pack which anyone thinking of running a race in 2005 should refer to. The finished product will be available to download from the TI website.

Elite and developing athletes had training sessions on the running track in Irishtown and in the pool in the Markievicz Centre before attending the afternoon forum.

Afternoon session

Premier League 2005

Wes Murphy gave a review of the 2004 National Series which was very successful with nearly 1000 ranked athletes, but was not in an ideal format. It was decided to scrap this old series completely. The new Premier League was launched.

The league will be used as a great marketing opportunity and through it we hope to attract some large sponsors. This new league will showcase our best races, we are keeping the league down to a minimum 8 races this year but as other races grow and standards improve they will be included.

Aims
- Improve the safety, quality and standard of all TI races
- Promote competition among athletes and increase entrant numbers
- Selection tool for international age group selection
- Promote the sport in general and attract sponsors

Main Features
2 Tier System

	Tier 1 - Standard Distance:  Galway, Kilkee, Lough Neagh, Dublin
	Tier 2 - Non-Standard Distance:  Mourne, Kinsale, Carrick, Kenmare 
	

Rankings will be based on performance rather than position. Athletes can get up to 100 points for Tier 1 races and 80 for Tier 2. At the current rate of growth in the sport, it is forecast that Tier 1 races will all have 400+ entrants and Tier 2 300+

Athlete Development

Anne Paul and Ian Lyle gave presentations on how the Ulster Branch's Athlete Development has been successful and what has been done to make it so, and what an athlete needs to do to maximise performance.

Funding

Funding opportunities from Triathlon Ireland and the Northern Ireland and Irish Sports Councils were discussed. The new carding system which was agreed upon with the ISC was announced. More athletes should be able to get more funding than was possible in the past.

Elite Squads 2005

Head Selector, Edith Kearney announced the new TI Elite Racing Squad. The squad is divided into A + B dependent on performance at International level.
These are the Elite Squads as of 31/12/04, these will be added to during 2005

Elite Team A
Caroline Kearney
Heather Wilson
Gavin Noble
Brian Campbell

Elite Team B
Trudy Brown
Julie Murphy
Christine Johnson
Rich Brady
Donal Mahon
Aiden Woods
Conor Murphy
Trevor Woods
Gary Crossan
Peter Savage
Allistair McCaw
Liam Dunne

Qualification for Beijing 2008

New 3 year system, Based on Rankings in ITU World Olympic Distance Rankings
Qualification period begins 2006-July 2008.

Four Levels of Events
1.World Championships
2.World Cup
3.Regional Championships (European Championships)
4.International Events
Compete in 6 races (max. of 2 International Races) to earn points

Elite racing with Foreign clubs

Caroline Kearney and Gavin Noble will continue to race in France this year, they were both snapped up in the off season to race with new bigger clubs. Anna Frankland and Eanna Mcgrath will this year join them in France, at their old club of Cesson Sevigne.

Anti Doping

Neil O' Brien gave a good presentation on Anti-doping rules, WADA updates, Therapeutic Exemption Forms etc. and announced and anti-doping forum on Feb 6th in the Ashling Hotel. This presentation will be added to the website.

Coaching opportunities in Ireland

Up until now, for triathlon coaching a lot of athletes have been using swimming, cycling and running coaches, there has never been accredited triathlon coaches for Ireland.

Sebastien Locteau gave details of the new Triathlon Course guide which describes the different certificates which will be available for someone who wants to become a Triathlon Coach. There will be 6 Certificates available which have different functions and allow a body to coach at different levels. They are Assistant teacher, Teacher, Assistant coach, Club Coach, Coach, High Performance Coach.

The certificates have been developed in association with the BTA (British Triathlon Association) and the FFT (French Triathlon Federation) and the NCTC in Ireland.

The first course is being run in Northern Ireland on Feb 4th/5th where candidates from the south can (and are encouraged) attend. The first course in the south will be in July 2005.

Source: Wes Murphy
Public Relations Officer
TRIATHLON IRELAND
ph:  086 4056653
email: wesley.murphy@helaba.de
web: www.triathlonireland.com