Tyler Butterfield finished an impressive 8th overall earlier today (Sunday 30th August) in Austria at the IRONMAN 70.3 World Championships. In her comeback race Nikki Butterfield was 17th amongst the women.

As in the past Tyler had some work to do after the 1.2 mile swim as he posted a time of 24 mins 05 secs, 61st overall and almost two minutes behind pre race favorite Jan Frodeno of Germany. However Tyler worked his way through the field to 14th with one of the fastest bike splits of 2hrs 13th minutes and 48 secs for the 56 mile bike and then produced a strong showing on the 13.1 mile run with a 1:17:19 to finish in 3hrs 58 mins and 44 secs.

Jan Frodeno took top honours in 3:51:19 with another German, Sebastian Kienle in 2nd and Javier Gomez of Spain, the current leader of the Olympic distance World Series (he won the Stockholm leg just last weekend !!) in 3rd.

Nikki also trailed the leaders after the swim as she emerged from the water in 27 mins 45 secs, 21st amngst the professional women and 69th woman but then used her strong bike to move up into 11th with the 7th fastest bike time amongst the women of 2:30:25. After a solid start to the run Nikki faded in the later stages to record a time of 1:39:55 for an overall time of 4:42:07.

Bermuda’s only other competitor was Matt Thompson who finished 84th in the mens 45-49 age group in 5hrs 6 minutes and 30 secs with splits of 30:06, 2:42:57 and 1: 43:15.

Full results at this link :

IRONMAN 70.3 WORLD CHAMPS 2015 RESULTS SEARCH TOOL

Erica Hawley and Tyler Smith produced excellent performances at the Canadian 16-19 Junior Elite Western Championships in Kelowna, BC today (Saturday 22nd August).

Racing first, Erica exited the water for the 750 swim in 10.27 just behind the leading group but worked hard on the first lap of the bike to bridge up to a leading pack of 9 that finished the four lap 20km bike with about a minute lead on the chasing pack. Erica then settled into around 6th / 7th place but was caught on the last lap of four on the 5km run to finish a very creditable 9th out of 28 starters. She finished the bike in 31 mins 21sec and the run in 20 min 45secs.

Tyler just missed a leading group of four out of the water that included Hamish Babin who Tyler normally matches on the swim. This group slowly built up a commanding lead on the bike  but on the 2nd lap Tyler and one other cyclist bridged up to two cyclists ahead and formed a chase pack. With one of the leading four dropping out Tyler entered T2 equal 4th. Unfortunately he had to serve a 10 sec penalty stop after the first lap and lost time. He was 5th going into the last lap but was caught in the last 800 meters by some fast finishers but finished a creditable 7th out of 67 in 57 mins 58 secs. His splits were

9:28 swim, 29:03 bike and a 17:42 run that included the penalty on a slightly long run course. The race was won by Michael Milic in 56 : 03. Despite an excellent performance Tyler was a little disappointed not to have made that leading swim group that might well have given him a chance for a podium spot.

FULL RESULTS AT : http://www.startlinetiming.com/races/2015/appletrisat

SATURDAY 22ND AUGUST :

I have just woken up here in Kelowna, Canada to see that Flora finished 4th in the ITU World Series Stockholm, Sweden Triathlon.

Flora’s result was especially impressive as she was racing against a small but strong field (although world no.1 Gwen Jorgensen opted to sit out this event).

Flora emerged from the 1500 swim with the lead pack in 20 min 16 sec and finished the 40km bike in 1 hr 6 mins 05 secs with a group of 14. She then produced one of her best runs of the year finishing the 10km in 34 min 03 secs for a total time of 2 hrs 1 min 51 secs just 25 secs out of a podium place.

The race was won by the USA’s Sarah True in 2 hrs 01 mins 05 secs.

Flora’s result will no doubt give her great confidence as she goes into the next series race in Edmonton on the weekend of September 5-6 and the World Championships in Chicago in mid September.

FULL RESULTS AT :

STOCKHOLM ELITE WOMEN 2015 RESULTS

UPDATE ON TYLER SMITH AND ERICA HAWLEY – RACING TODAY

Meanwhile here in Kelowna it’s 6AM and we are just 3 1/2 hours away from the start of the BC Provincial junior elite 16-19 championships in which Bermuda’s Erica Hawley and Tyler Smith will participate. Yesterday both juniors swam, biked and ran the course at a leisurely pace under the watchful eye of their Canadian coach Kelly Guest. The pancake flat bike and run courses should produce a fast race. There is a possibility that the swim in the fresh water lake will be non wetsuit which will suit the Bermuda triathletes who are both strong swimmers.

Erica will be buoyed (pardon the pun) by the fact that she has just heard that she has received a wild card entry into the junior elite 16-19 world championships in Chicago. Tyler Smith had already qualified for the world championships having finished 15th in the North American qualifying event.

T

Tyler and Nikki Butterfield are finalizing their preparations for this year’s Ironman 70.3 World Championships, to take place on Sunday 30th August in Zell Am See, Austria.

Nikki will be making a welcome comeback to the sport after a lengthy break. Tyler’s preparations for these championships have not been ideal as he was sick after the Frankfurt Ironman and missed a block of training but hopefully he had had the time to prepare for these championships ahead of the Ironman World Championships in Kona, his primary focus.

With the sparkling Lake Zell as its centerpoint and glacier-covered mountains as its backdrop, the 70.3 championships will showcase Austria’s majestic scenery. The swim takes place in a lake so clean you can drink the water, the new bike course will provide athletes stunning views of the Austrian Alps, and the distractingly scenic run course circumnavigates the lake, finishing in the picturesque old town of Zell am See.

HERE IS A  LINK TO THE WEBSITE WHICH INCLUDES A VIDEO :

IRONMAN 70.3 2015 WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

Greg Welch, and Australian triathlon legend, will be the guest speaker at this year’s 2015 BTA Annual Prize Giving Dinner scheduled for Saturday 21st November (details to follow from the BTA).

There will also be a Ironman and Ironman 70.3 training camp with Greg and his wife Sian, for just 10 people ( on a first come basis). The camp will be 5 sessions from 21st to 26th November culminating in a wrap up dinner. For details and an entry form go to http://www.bta.bm ( to be available shortly) or EMail me on dm@uptonmanagement.com and I will send you the information.

Greg is the only triathlete to win the Olympic, Ironman, ITU Long Course and Duathlon World Championships and was one of the first triathletes to be inducted into the Triathlon Hall of Fame. He currently is a triathlon coach, speaker and the voice of Ironman, providing commentary at the World Championships and numerous other Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races. Sian was one of the USA’s top triathletes over various s distances with numerous top ten finishes in  Ironman races, including at the World Championships.

Juniors Erica Hawley and Tyler Smith arrive in Kelowna, BC, Canada this Thursday ready to participate in Saturday’s BC Provincial 16-19 Junior Elite Championships under the watchful eye of their Canadian coach Kelly Guest. Both Erica (14th) and Tyler (11th) produced outstanding performances at the recent Canadian National 16-19 Junior Elite Championships and they will both be hoping to build on those performances in Kelowna where they will face stiff competition again.

Kelowna is in the beautiful Okanagan region of Canada. Temperatures are expected to be in the low 30’s so it will be hot. The 20km bike course features a tough little climb that could well split the field.

Erica was recently in Victoria training with Kelly and members of the junior elite BC programme. She was getting in 3 to 4 hours of training each day so should be well prepared for these championships. Tyler ofcourse was with Kelly for six weeks in Europe with the Canadian juniors so he too has had ideal preparation for this race.

Sue Edney will also be in Kelowna racing on Sunday in the BC Olympic Distance Age Group Championships along with former Bermuda residents Kim and Riann Naude.

Garth Thompson and Dee McMullen, also former Bermuda residents, will be on hand as well as Aaron Smith and myself so there will be plenty of Bermuda support.

For more on the race and results follow this link :

http://appletriathlon.com/