Triathlon Australia today announced a 2010 Challenge Series schedule that incorporates a revived elite domestic series and complements the recently launched ITU world championship race in Sydney.

The 2010 series takes in five cities – Geelong, Canberra, Hobart, Sydney and Adelaide – and has been tailored to provide greater continuity within the sport while offering multiple pathways for athletes of all ages and ability. A standard stable of races are offered at each location including Olympic Distance and Sprint Distance triathlons, an Enticer Triathlon for novice competitors and the TRYstars Kids’ Triathlon.

While seven venues were used for last year’s inaugural series due to widespread interest in qualifying races for a home world championships, the 2010 series reverts to a five-venue format that dovetails into the Australian-based international races in Mooloolaba and Sydney.

Triathlon Australia chief executive Andrew Hamilton said the 2010 Challenge Series was devised with a whole-of-sport strategy in mind, providing a consistent, high quality series of races for a broad range of the population.

“We’ve worked with race directors, councils, tourism bodies and our high performance team and state associations to develop a series that considers the sport as a whole,” he said. “We had to delay the announcement of the Challenge Series over the last month as a date for Sydney’s world championship race was finalised, but triathlon needs an integrated, sustainable approach and that has been our aim in taking the entire race calendar into account.

“Unfortunately, Perth and Brisbane have missed out for next year. City of Perth is a great supporter of triathlon, enabling us to host the Australian Olympic Distance Championships there for the past two years, however, they’ve experienced significant budget cuts and that affected our ability to stage a major event in Perth in 2010. The Queensland leg was in Redcliffe last year where we did experience some logistical challenges with the course. We plan to revisit the Queensland market, but there is some comfort in knowing the vibrant triathlon community there is already well serviced by a number of established and popular events.”

Mr Hamilton said the Challenge Series race schedule had something for everyone.

“The Challenge Series incorporates opportunities for kids, novice athletes, our army of age group racers and a timely, relevant component for our elites – all within a schedule that complements the other big races on the calendar,” he said. “It’s also important to note that next year’s elite series is the platform for a more comprehensive structure that will hopefully attract broadcast and corporate components to help project the sport to the next level.”

A new three-race elite series incorporates two Challenge Series races – Hobart on February 14 and Sydney on March 7 – along with the Gold Coast’s established Luke Harrop Memorial on February 28.

National High Performance Director Michael Flynn and AIS Head Coach Shaun Stephens worked closely with Triathlon Australia in devising a new format that ticked a number of boxes.

“We’ve established a cumulative-points series over three races that gives our athletes short, intense hit-outs early in the year in preparation for the European-based international season, so we can be assured of exciting, spectator-friendly racing,” Mr Flynn said.

“We’ve moved away from the traditional Australian championships across the Olympic and Sprint distances to more suitable formats such as Enduro and Triple Sprint, which is a big change for the sport, but our focus has to be on readying our elite athletes to shine on the international stage.”

Elite competitors will commence serious competition with the domestic series in readiness for the Mooloolaba ITU World Cup (March 27-28) and the opening race of the Dextro Energy ITU World Championship Series in Sydney on April 11 that sees a spectacular course based at the Sydney Opera House, similar to the 2000 Olympic Games.

For age group racing enthusiasts, Adelaide is the new host of the Australian Olympic Distance and Sprint Championships, following tenures in Perth and Hobart respectively. Adelaide will also host the Australian Duathlon Championships.

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Rough surf and blustery winds put some of Australia’s leading age-group triathletes to the sword at the Sydney Water Challenge in Cronulla today.

Swells of up to two metres and messy surf saw the 1500-metre swim leg off Wanda Beach slightly shortened and relocated 800 metres up the beach to ensure a safe aquatic environment. Given the testing conditions presented by an exposed beach and recent shark activity in Sydney, Triathlon Australia engaged the expertise and resources of Surf Life Saving Australia to oversee the swim component. Five IRBs (rubber duckies), two jet skis, an offshore rescue boat and 30 volunteer surf life savers were on hand to sweep the course and guide swimmers.

The field of more than 700 in the Olympic Distance Triathlon was also buffeted by blustery cross winds on the 40km bike course over two loops, before tackling a challenging 10km run that included a number of hills in Lucas Reserve.

The fastest male home was Charlie Boyle in a time of 1hr, 50min 58sec. The 24-year-old Gold Coast athlete is in training for long course events but is also attempting a late charge to qualify for the Olympic Distance Triathlon at the World Championships in his home state on the Gold Coast in September.

“I’m actually in training for the longer distances, but with the World Championships in my own back yard this year I thought I’d better have a crack at them as well,” he said. “I wasn’t sure where I was positioned during the race but that was a good hit-out today. I’ll go to Perth next week (for the Australian Olympic Distance Championships) and hopefully try and qualify for the Gold Coast, then back up five weeks later for the Long Distance World Championships.”

Melissa Vandewater produced a dominant performance to record the fastest female time of the day. The 30-year-old from Balgowlah on Sydney’s northern beaches found the tough conditions to her liking.

Sydney Water Australian Aquathlon Championships winner Sally Parker

“To be honest a shorter swim probably suited me because I could keep the leaders within reach and was then able to step things up on the bike and reel them in,” she said. “It was pretty windy out there but I didn’t mind the couple of hills and I felt good coming home on the run, so the race panned out fairly well for me.”

More than 200 Enticer athletes, many competing in their first triathlon over the shorter distance (375m swim, 10km ride, 2.5km run), encountered a tough initiation, producing plenty of broad smiles as the Sydney Water Challenge finish arch came into view. Juniors aged seven to 15 competing in the St George & Sutherland Shire Leader TRYstars Kids’ Triathlon waded whitewater in a revised swim leg.

More than 1000 athletes took part in the multisport festival over the weekend, which included yesterday’s Sydney Water Australian Aquathlon Championships, comprising an 800-metre swim and 6km run. Wollongong’s Ben Allen was crowned men’s champion, while the ACT’s Sally Parker was the female winner.

Article:TRIATHLON AUSTRALIA Photographer: JAMES RANKIN of Triathlonphotos.com

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Annabelle Luxford, Female winner, 2009 Australian Elite Sprint Distance Triathlon Championships

Brisbane’s Annabel Luxford launched her triathlon career comeback campaign
in style today, winning the Australian Triathlon Sprint Championships at
Hobart’s dockside today.

The former ITU world number one, led the race from start to finish, to take
the sprint crown in 1h3m41s. Trailing her by a fair margin was Barbara
Riveros-Diaz from Chile who crossed the line in 1h4m35s and third was
Brisbane’s Sarah Cowley (1hr 5m40s).

It was a rewarding win for Luxford whose career has been hampered by injury
and has seen her spend the last year sidelined with a stress fracture to her
foot. Back training under Shaun Stephens, the 26 year old looked
particularly strong today in the swim and bike, and was thrilled with the
victory.

Annabelle Luxford, Female winner, 2009 Australian Elite Sprint Distance Triathlon Championships

Luxford’s glory year was 2005 when she was world number one and took a
silver in the world championships, but 2006 to 2008 have been lean years
with a 5th at the Commonwealth Games and the disappointment of injury
damming her Beijing ambitions. The law student is hoping today’s victory
kicks off her journey to the 2012 Olympics.

“I had no idea how I would go before the race. I am glad to be back and to
win an Australian title, is always extra special,” said Luxford.

“I was a little nervous, all these young kids are here, and I thought a
little intimidated,” said Luxford whose domination of the race where she won
by nearly a minute, showed she had no need for concern.

The next major races on the Australian triathlon race calendar are the
Oceania / Luke Harrop Memorial Championship on the Gold Coast on March 1 (to
be run on the course to be used for the world championships in September ) ,
followed by Australian Triathlon Championships for the longer Olympic
distance in Perth on March 15.

RESULTS:

Australian Triathlon Sprint Championships WOMENS Hobart – Sunday February 15 2009:

1. Annabel Luxford (Brisbane – QLD)
1h 3m41s

2. Barbara Riveros-Diaz (Chile)
1h4m35s

3. Sarah Crowely (Brisbane – QLD)
1h5m40s

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Courtney Atkinson, Male winner, 2009 Australian Elite Sprint Distance Triathlon Championships

Defending champion, the Gold Coast’s Courtney Atkinson, has once again won
the Australian Triathlon Sprint Championships beating home rival Brisbane’s
Dan Wilson in a stunning sprint to the line in Hobart this afternoon.

In amazing finish, it was an exact repeat of the 2008 championship final,
right down to the time margin split of a mere second. As they pushed each
other to victory, Atkinson broke the tape in 55m30s with the 23 year old
Wilson a hair’s breadth behind in 55m31s. Teenager, 19 year old Josh
Amberger from Brisbane, who led the national field of 19 men out of the
opening 750m swim leg, finished 3rd.

The 20km bike leg saw a pack of nine tick off with precision the eight lap
course, from Hobart’s dockside to Battery Point, before entering transition,
when the real race began.

The experienced Atkinson darted from transition but Wilson was determined
not to let him go, and shot out behind him. The two ran neck at neck at 3
minute run pace over the 5km city street leg, racing for the last kilometre
as if they were in a final sprint. Despite surges from the two to try and
breakaway, the race came down the final 50 metres, when Atkinson in a final
lunge secured victory.

It was Atkinson’s fourth national sprint title and for the Beijing Olympian,
the win kicked off his 2009 campaign in style. But it was a race for
Atkinson to even get to the start line. His flight from the Gold Coast was
cancelled last night, and the Gold Coaster took a Sunday morning plane that
saw him land in Hobart just two hours before the race and at the race
precint, 10 minutes before the start gun.

Courtney Atkinson, Male winner, 2009 Australian Elite Sprint Distance Triathlon Championship

“I loved that today,” said an elated Atkinson after the win. “I loved the
pace of the race and the battle with Dan. It was worth coming here for
that, and in fact it was very worthwhile for me to have to race at such pace
and with such intensity.

“It is very very early in the season for me and I have only been training
for about a month. It was a lot of hard work, the pace was on and it was
probably a bit above what I am doing, but it was a good start.

“You know, there’s always a little doubt in your mind, and with a hundred
metres today, there was a big doubt!!

“But the years of experience, the hard racing, got me home. I like being in
those situations, but Dan should be proud of himself, he’s improved a lot .”

For Wilson, it was a disappointment to come in 2nd again, but rewarding to
know he was keeping pace with the world class Atkinson.

“It was close again, another really exciting finish, but he (Atkinson)
didn’t flinch,” said Wilson.

“I was so close, but so far. You know I think it would have been easier to
lose by 30 seconds, but that is racing.”

RESULTS:
Australian Triathlon Sprint Championship – MENS Hobart – Sunday February 15 2009:
1. Courtney Atkinson (Gold Coast – QLD)
55m 30 s
2. Daniel Wilson (Brisbane – QLD)
55m 31s
3. Josh Amberger (Brisbane – QLD)
56m 09s

BLK1 Article: TRIATHLON AUSTRALIA BLK1 Photographer: DELLY CARR

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