As already posted on this blog the ITU Long Course Triathlon, Standard Duathlon, Sprint Duathlon ( draft legal), Aquabike, Aquathlon ( swim / run) and Cross ( Xterra) World Champs for Elite, Age Group, U23 and Juniors takes place in August 2017 in beautiful Penticton, British Columbia, Canada. For more details go to http://www.penticton2017.com

If you would like to represent Bermuda in any of these championship events please contact Dave Morrison at dm@uptonmanagement.com and he will provide you with an application form and details on how to qualify and more information on the race and costs etc.,

There are also open categories in all of the races and you do not need to qualify to race in this category ( which goes last in each race) and although you can enter directly on the website please still contact Dave so we know you are part of the Bermuda contingent.

So far Geoff Smith, Matt Thompson and Jenn Wilson are definites and four others are very likely to be confirmed in the next 24 hours.

BECAUSE ACCOMODATION AND TRANSPORTATION IS TIGHT AND WE HAVE TO CONSIDER WHETHER TO TRY AND BOOK A TEAM HOTEL AND BUS THE DEADLINE FOR ENTRY IS TOMORROW, FRIDAY 31ST MARCH 2017,  BUT WE WILL ACCEPT APPLICATIONS AFTER THAT DATE. WE ANTICIPATE THAT MOST, IF NOT ALL, TRIATHLETES IN TRAINING FOR LONG DISTANCE EVENTS, WILL QUALIFY SO DON’T BE SHY !!

Starting with a full day on Sunday and then for the following two evenings, 17 people attended the Part 1 Technical Officials course put on by the BTA. The facilitator was Dave Markham from Canada who is the head TD/TO for the Penticton 2017 ITU World Championship events and has acted as a technical delegate for many World Triathlon Series events including the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. He is also one of the founders of Triathlon Canada.

CALLING ALL JUNIOR TRIATHLETES – RACE DAY IS APPROACHING!

The Digicel Bermuda Trifest on April 9th features races for 3 junior age groups on the same fast course that the Adult Age Groupers and Elites will be racing on later in the morning. Age categories are 7-10, 11-12 and 13-15. We have been looking closely at recent weather conditions and water temperatures and have decided to shorten the swim for the two younger age groups, who will also be unused to swimming in the open water of Hamilton Harbour. The 7-10 year old kids will now swim just 50m alongside the harbour wall at No 1 Car Park, while the 11-12 year olds will swim 100m. We will have a lane-line in the water to help the swimmers, which they can hold on to if they need to. There will also be a team of race officials on hand in the water to assist and ensure the safety of the swimmers. We are expecting the water temperature to be at around 68-70F on race day. While we believe this will be warm enough to maintain a safe environment for the swimmers, we will continue to monitor the ambient conditions and will make further changes if it is deemed necessary.

In the interests of keeping to the scheduled Super Sprint distance for the 13-15 year old competitors, we are not shortening their swim from the standard 375m at this stage. Wet suits will be allowed in the anticipated water temperatures. If any competitor does not have a wetsuit, there may be some spare wetsuits available to borrow for the race, but numbers will be very limited (and if you have a spare wet suit to lend, please do let us know). We may also decide to shorten this swim if conditions are too cold on race day.

The bike course will be one lap of the Hamilton street circuit for the 7-10 year olds (4.75km) and two laps for the older age groups (9.5km), while the run will feature 1, 2 and 3 laps respectively of a short loop on Front St.

We believe this is an exciting opportunity for the Bermuda juniors to experience an ITU race and we hope your children will be keen to be involved. For family and friends, the course offers plenty of good vantage points to watch the action and the lap format offers the ideal way to follow the race. On site you will find a small expo showcasing local businesses, with food and beverages also available.

Racing gets underway at 7.15am with the 7-10 year olds leading everyone off. The 11-12 year olds follow at 7.20 and the 13-15 year olds at 7.25. Once the junior racing is over, the Adult Age Groupers will be on the start line at 8am for their Sprint race, with the Elite races following at 10am (Women) and 1130am (Men). It promises to be a great day of triathlon for Bermuda and we hope to see you there.

If you have any questions at all about the Junior races at Trifest, please contact Age Group Race Director, Alec Shepherd (alecshep@btopenworld.com), as soon as possible and we will be pleased to help.

Thank you.

The Trifest and Continental Cup Organising Committee

Erica Hawley and her University of Colorado team won the Collegiate Conference Championships at the 2017 Havasu Triathlons on Saturday.

Erica finished in an impressive 2:06:41 for the Olympic (Standard) distance race (although the swim seems short), in which she has very little experience, which was good enough for 4th  in a field of 86 women. She was also 48th overall.

Erica clocked a time of 16:08 for the 1500m (??) swim, 1:10.14 for the 40km bike and 40.20 for the 10km run and missed out on the collegiate podium by just 11 seconds.

Globe trotting Bermuda triathlete Kent Richardson, who is again training at altitude in Ecuador, made the short (!) journey to Montevideo, Uruguay to race in the CAMTRI Montevideo Sprint Triathlon on Sunday.

Kent finished 1st in the mens 55-59 age group in 1 hr 16 mins and 13th overall.

Here is his race report ( slightly edited) :

I was first in age group 1:16.
They only gave out 1/2/3 so a little bummed that there was nothing for
> 1st
>  I’m  thinking the average age was 27 So my 13th overall at 58, lol .
> Ya was good
> I rode solo for two laps and passed quite a few and hooked up with an Argentinan
> and a Uruguayan. They were not too strong so I  pressed the pace.
> Run I felt strong fantastic course ,the wind played a huge factor.
> And transition 😀
> But happy ,I’m back in altitude enjoying the painful hard work 💪🏻

> Cheers
> Kento

The beautiful town of Penticton in the Okanagan Valley, British Columbia, Canada is the venue for the 2017 International Triathlon Union’s World Championships in the following events for Elite, Under 23 Elite, Junior and Age Group athletes :

Long Course Triathlon, Standard Duathlon, Sprint Duathlon, Cross Triathlon (off road) Aquabike ( long course distances) and Aquathlon.

Those not qualifying to represent Bermuda in the World Championships ( we believe that there will be very few if any) can still compete in any of the events in the Open category.

There will also be a Kids Triathlon Camp and a Kids Splash and Dash ( Swim / Run) event.

THE EVENT WEBSITE IS AT WWW.PENTICTON2017.COM

A number of Bermuda’s triathletes, mostly members of the Human Powered Racing Team, have already committed to going.

My wife (Sue) and I have visited Penticton on a few occasions including last year when Sue, along with HPR coach Mike Neill and Joel Matthews raced in the Long Course Triathlon, a trial race on the same course as this year’s event. It is a great place and a triathlon hotspot. For many years it hosted the Canada Ironman Champs that was raced for many years by Mike Neill and B78 coach Jasper Blake. Jasper won Ironman Canada in 2006 in Penticton and was 2nd on a number of occasions and never out of the top 5. Mike also raced there for many years as a professional triathlete. They will both be there this year.

If you would like to qualify for the Bermuda team or enter the Open category please contact me, Dave Morrison, on dm@uptonmanagement.com and I will send you an application form together with details of costs etc. Once you qualify or enter the Open category a further form and additional information will be sent to you so we can send in our Bermuda entries registration form which has to be done by the BTA.

IMPORTANT : In order to secure accomadation and transportation the ENTRY DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS IS MARCH 31ST, 2017. Although we will consider other entries after that deadline we can’t guarantee team accomadation  IF we have the numbers to book into the same hotel. In addition, flight dates on WestJet ( the best option) are limited ( largely by dates out of and into Bermuda) so you will need to book early. Transportation by shuttle from Kelowna to Penticton may also get fully booked and this option is a very good one at $100 round trip including two bikes and cases.

IMPORTANT : TO RACE IN A CHAMPIONSHIP RACE YOU MUST HAVE BEEN RESIDENT IN BERMUDA FOR 365 DAYS ON RACE DAY. IF YOU DO NOT QUALIFY YOU CAN ENTER THE OPEN CATEGORY.

The BTA have published their schedule of 2017 races starting in just 19 days (April 9th) with the Continental Cup in Hamilton which will include an age group sprint event as part of the Digicel Tri Fest 2017.

The rest of the schedule :

April 14th  – Good Friday Home Event – John Smiths Bay

May 20th – Clarien Ironkids – Clearwater Beach

June 19th – National Heroes Day Home Event – Harrington Sound School Dock

July 1st – Bank of Bermuda Foundation Sprint – Clearwater Beach

September 4th – Labour Day Home Event – Harrington Sound School Dock

September 24th – Tokio Millenium Sprint – Hamilton

October 15th – AON Sprint National Championships – Clearwater Beach

October 22nd – XL Catlin Standard (Olympic) distance National Championships – Clearwater

For more information and how to sign up for races and start times look at Bermuda Triathlon Association website at http://www.bta.bm or become a member / renew your membership and you will receive the BTA Newsletter on a regular basis with updates.

Race Directors are still needed for some races so if interested contact Geoff Smith on Geoff_Smith99@yahoo.com. If you are new to race directing you will be provided with assistance with what needs to be done.

Karen Smith, competing in her first long distance triathlon since 2014 returned to her winning ways taking first place yesterday, Sunday in the Ironman 70.3 in Puerto Rico.

Karen was first out of the water in 31:15 and after dropping to 2nd with a 2:43:18 bike ran herself to the win in 1:43:49 for an overall time of 5:04:31, good enough for 134th place overall. Karen won her age group despite losing 8 minutes when she hit a pot hole and her aero bars were damaged.

Shawn Connell Clarkson showed that she will be a force to reckon with on the local triathlon scene as she was 4th in the women’s 40-44 age group in 5:16:46. She emerged from the water first in her age group in 30:57 and was 2nd off the bike with a split of 2:42:00 before finishing with a run of 1:57:12

Sarah Farrar (40-44) also broke the top 20 as she completed the course in 6:09:38 (40:31, 3:11:13, 2:09:41) t0 finish in 19th spot

Nancy Stevens  competing in her first 70.3 to mark her upcoming 50th birthday was an impressive 20th in the 50-54 age group in 6:55:00 with splits of 44:47, 3:12:10, 2:45:03.

Josh Ball (40-44)and Danielle Morin  were also competing in their first triathlon longer than the sprint distance and both finished. Josh 174th in his age group with an overall time of 7:40:37 with splits of 59:25, 3:29:05 and 2:56:59 whilst Danielle was 38th in the 40-44 female age group in 6:54:09 with splits of 42:56, 3:16:38 and 2:40:31.

Gerhard Boonstra ( 45-49) did not need medical attention and finished 57th in the male 45-49 age group in 5:58:48 (swim 35:37, bike 2:56:11 and run 2:16:43).

Tom Hands was 68th in his age group in 6:31:11 ( 40:36, 2:53:06 and 2:48:40).

The team of Victor Ruberry, Ian Pilgrim and Lara Rogers finished 6th overall as ex Olympian Victor emerged from the water 7th in the team event in 32:45 and Ian Pilgrim then blitzed the bike in 2:33:19 to move them into second place with Lara completing the run in 2:13:34 for an overall time of 5:27:29.

Sarah Farrar’s race report to follow !!

A group of Bermuda triathletes headed to Puerto Rico this week as they get ready to take part in Ironman 70.3 Puerto Rico.

Hopefully they will only have to deal with the race distances as last year two rival gangs were involved in a car shoot out on the bike course leaving two competitors injured !! The race organisers though are confident that there wont be  repeat this year.

Leading the way in Puerto Rico will be multiple times Bermuda National Triathlon Champion and Commonwealth Games participator (2002) Karen Smith, who has reached  the pinnacle of age group racing having previously won her age group at the Ironman World Championships in Hawaii. Karen has not raced a longer distance race since 2014, due to injury that has limited her training but is sure to be close to the top of her age group.

Also making the trip will be a mixture of first timers and more experienced longer distance triathletes in :Tom Hands, Nancy Stevens, Danielle Morin, Josh Ball, Gerhard Boostra, Shaun O’Connell and the team if Victor Ruberry (swim), Ian Pilgrim (bike) and Lara Rogers (run).

For more on the race and to get results go to :

http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/events/americas/ironman-70.3/san-juan.aspx#axzz4bb20Vy5v

Two of Bermuda’s elite youth triathletes ( 13-15 age group) produced strong performances today ( Sunday 12th March)at the CAMTRI Youth Elite Triathlon in Sarasota Florida, a day after Erica Hawley and Tyler Smith took top ten finishes in the North American Junior Championships at the same venue.

Nick Pilgrim emerged from the 375m swim in 5 min 36 secs and with a strong bike of 19 min 04 secs for the 12.2km bike he appears to have entered T2 with the first group trying to chase down the impressive early swim leader Andrew Shellenberger of the USA (4 min 50 secs) who also produced an exceptional bike (18:35)to enter T2 with a good cushion over the chasers.

Looking at the results it would appear that after the swim / bike Nick was in contention for a podium finish but he fell back a little on the 2.5km run with a 9 min 48 compared to under 9 min runs for the eventual podium finishers.

Nick finished 8th in 34 min 45 secs with Shellenberger winning by over a minute in 32.53

Caleb Ingham also produced a solid performance finishing in the top half of the field of 54 finishers with a 5.58 swim, 19.30 bike and 10.42 run for an overall time of 36 mins 42 secs