ITU News Update: 14 June 2004

Blatchford (GBR), Kemper (USA) Win Bellingham Continental Triathlon - Williams, Plata qualify for American Olympic Team

Excerpt of release from BJ Hoeptner- Evans, USAT

Hunter Kemper (USA) and Liz Blatchford (GBR) won the Bellingham ITU Continental Triathlon and Susan Williams and Victor Plata earned the final spots on the US Olympic team at the June 13 event.

Williams and Plata made the team by virtue of their finishes among the Americans at the Race to Athens - Honolulu, combined with their finishes among the Americans in Bellingham. Williams finished 3rd overall in Bellingham, and Plata 7th overall.

The event started with with Lindquist, the top-ranked woman in the world, exiting the water first, followed closely by world No. 2 Taormina (USA), world No. 3 Laura Reback (USA) , Williams and Blatchford. However, Taormina quickly pulled out of the race on the first lap of the bike due to shin splints. During the first trip up "Alabama Hill," which has an 18 percent grade, Reback tried to make her move.

"I was with the group and then went ahead a little," Reback said. "I think I wanted to show that I could ride the bike. But that's a tough hill, and I went up too fast. They (Lindquist, Williams and Blatchford) passed me and I could not catch them."

Reback rode by herself for the rest of the bike and fell further and further behind the leaders. By the second transition, her deficit was more than three minutes.

In the men's event the race came down to the run with Kemper (USA ) crossing the line first followed by Andy Potts (USA) Matt Reed (ITU) and Joe Umphenour (USA).

The American men's team travelling to Athens will consist of Hunter Kemper, Andy Potts and Victor Plata. The women's team will include Barb Lindquist, Sheila Taormina and Susan Williams.

Liz Blatchford (GBR)

Hunter Kemper (USA)

Gilberto Gonzales (VEN), Melissa Begin (USA) win Rincon ITU Continental Triathlon

Gilberto Gonzales (VEN) and Melissa Begin (USA) have won the Rincon ITU Continental Triathlon in Puerto Rico. Complete results are now available on ww.triathlon.org

Live Coverage from Tongyeong ITU Triathlon World Cup a Huge Success

Triathlon fans were treated to an incredible show from the Tongyeong ITU World Cup. Live results, live images, live audio and live text updates were combined into one interface on www.itutv.com and viewers around the world were able to share in the experience as Leanda Cave (GBR) and Dimitry Gaag (KAZ) ran to the top of the podium.

Early viewer figures indicate the event was popular around the world - and feedback from viewers has been trmendous.

www.itutv.com will officially be launched at next month's Edmonton World Cup. At this time the online TV channel will also contain full TV highlights from the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

ITU Triathlon TV Viewer Figures Up in the UK

Viewer figures for the first two shows of the ITU World Cupseries are in from UK commercial terrestrial broadcaster Channel 5 and vieweship is up by an average of 80,000 viewers compared to last year's average, according to industry newsletter TV Sports Markets and BARB (British Audience Research Board) figures. Round 1 in Ishigaki drew 451,000 viewers on a Sunday night slot, from 12am to 1245am.

Ishigaki was Channel 5's top programme for the week ending May 2, beating C5 programming such as football (soccer) highlights, MLB baseball, PGA golf, NHL playoff hockey, NASCAR and various other soccer (Dutch, Argentinean). The ITU World Championships from Madeira drew 1.035 million viewers on Saturday May 15th from 1305pm to 1350.

Congratulations to Jorge Garcia

Congratulations to Jorge Garcia of Spain and his wife Lucia on the birth of their beautiful baby Alejandro.

New Executive Board for Austrian Triathlon Federation
Submitted by Karin Melinz

President: Walter ZETTINIG
Vice-president: Helmut KAUFMANN
Vice-president: Julius SKAMEN
Sport Coordinator: Mag. Gerald DYGRYN
Sport Coordinator, deputy: Helmut BERGER
Technical Coordinator: Ing. Josef SCHLÖGL
Technical Coordinator, deputy: Karl SAKL
Treasurer: Markus LICHTENEGGER
Treasurer, deputy: Prok. Gerhard HORVATH
Information Coordinator: Dr. Peter LARCHER
Information Coordinator, deputy: Ing. Andreas PASCHINGER
Press: Sabine STRAUSS
Press, deputy: Ing. Rudolf BOSS

ETU Conference "Youth Triathlon Activities"
Excerpt from ETU Update ( report from Athanasios Nikopoulos, ETU Development Committee)

The 1st ETU Conference; "Youth Triathlon Activities" took place in Marina di Castro, Italy . The conference would not have been possible without the support of the Italian Triathlon Federation.

8 countries and 15 Italian technical officials were in attendance. Representatives presented on the role of youth projects within their countries and at the same time had the chance to exchange ideas.

The countries that participated were:
· Czech Republic (Formanek Jaroslav, Mateju Helena)
· Great Britain (William Heather)
· Greece (Athanassios Nikopoulos, Chronis Drougias)
· Israel (Igal Dahan)
· Luxembourg (Jean Pierre Ernzen)
· Slovenia (Grega Horevar, Milos Petelin)
· Spain (Juan Rodriguez Bienn, Juan Mayol Pizzo)
· Italy (Roberto Tamburri, Sergio Miliogniri)

According to the results of the Conference, a well organized youth program is essential. Countries such as Spain, Italy, and Great Britain have had success in age groups and older athletes. There were valuable lessons learned from each country - for example Spain has an exemplary talent identification programme while Italy has a good administrative system with selection races and several youth camps.

Dr. Mario Rodriquez, UCECATRI President writes; Dear Members and National Triathlon Federations of the Central American and Caribbean Union of Triathlon (UCECETRI):

According to our Statute of Fundation and following the Article 16 of our constitution approved in the city of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on August 08, 2003; we are pleased to notify you the first announcement of convocatory to the Ordinary General Assembly 2004 of our regional organism, Central America and Caribbean Union of Triathlon –UCECATRI-, to take place on Friday October 8, 2004 in Catagena de Indias, Colombia. We send this communication to all our affiliated Federations in order to receive topics for the Assembly Agenda. Looking forward to recieve your information.

What's New on www.triathlon.org:

• Tongyeong Results, Video Clips, Photos and more from Tongyeong ITU World Cup
• Results from Bellingham ITU Continental Triathlon
• Results from Rincon Contintntal Triathlon, Puerto Rico