ITU Leadership Team Names: On behalf of the ITU Executive Board and Regional Representatives we would like to thank all those talented people who put their application in for one of the ITU Leadership positions that were advertised on www.triathlon.org in late December. We recognised that many people were away from their computers over the festive season, so we honoured applications until 15 December. We had 68 applications for the 12 positions, and without exception all were well qualified and experienced. The Selection Commission recommended the following appointments, which the ITU Executive Board and Regional Representatives approved:

Administration and Finance:

• Loreen Barnett, ITU Executive Director. Loreen has been acting in this position since the founding of ITU and has demonstrated the skills and ability to build and lead the team.
  
• Leslie Buchanan, ITU Technical Director (Top photos): Leslie has competently carried out the requirements of this position and will now assume further duties in the area of managing matters related to Doping Control, in collaboration with the ITU Medical Committee and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).
  
• Adrienne Proseilo, ITU Financial Manager: Adrienne was the most experienced and knowledgeable applicant for the position. She has co-owned 2 successful businesses and has the knowledge of our sport to fulfill this position
  

ITU Events:

• Sheila O'Kelly, Head of ITU Events (2nd Photos right): Sheila has been the "de facto" head of ITU Events since 2001 when she produced the most successful world championships that we have ever had. She continued to show leadership with the ITU World Cup and World Championships on a voluntary basis for the past 4 years. We are very honoured that Sheila has accepted this position with ITU.

ITU Media and Television:

• Ed Rice (3rd Photo right) will take on the task of heading up ITU Media and Television division. During the past 3 years Ed has managed the evolution of ITU's website, www.triathlon.org into the world's largest and best multi-sport online resource, including the live event coverage from World Cup and World Championship events. He has also managed the distribution side of ITU's television show and was key to establishing ITU online video channel, www.ITUtv.com .
  
• Brian Mahony (4th Photo right) will join Ed on the ITU Media and Television team by taking on the role of Producer of Online Services. Brian has been fundamental to the re-construction of www.triathlon.org, which will be re-launched in the coming weeks and has been led to the evolution of the online live event coverage.
  
• Pat Bell (5th photo right) will continue as the Lead Camera Operator of ITU Television, and will also take on the full responsibilities as Director of Onsite Television both for the ITU Host Broadcast crew and when events have their own Host Broadcaster. Pat will also be involved in the early stages of post-production.
  
• Barrie Shepley (6th photo right) will become the onsite television producer and colour commentator. Barrie has been part of the post-production team for the past 3 years and will take on added responsibilities with field production. He will also work with others, such as Jackie Fairweather and members of the ITU Coaching Commission to provide the live online event coverage and specialty videos such as coaching and training segments for ITUtv.com.

Sport Development:

• Gergely Markus (7th photo-right) will head up the new Sport Development division of ITU. Gergely is also the current Secretary General of the European Triathlon Union and was the Competition Manager, Athens Olympic Games Triathlon. Gergely brings a wealth of sport leadership talent and experience with him from managing community multi-sport clubs to elite performance athlete. The current World Cup Champion, Dimitri Gaag, trains and races out of the TVK Club in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary, which was founded by Gergely and his father Gabor. The European Triathlon Union and ITU will combine resources to establish an administration office in Europe. Gergely will have 3 Sport Development Officers on his team:
  
• Enrique Quesada (8th photo-right), who will primarily manage Sport Development in Latin America, in collaboration with Antonio Alvarez, President of the PanAmerican Triathlon Confederation (PATCO) and Carlos Froes, ITU Regional Representative for the Americas. Enrique will also team up with other coaches and Sport Development officers with a focus on eastern Europe and Africa. He will also continue as the ITU Ranking Manager responsible for the ITU World Ranking as well as the 5 Regional Rankings.
  
• Kristine Chambers (9th photo -right)is putting her PhD in kinesiology and coaching science on hold and will take on the challenge of Sport Development, with a primary focus on the English-speaking countries of the Americas and Africa, as well as being the Sport Development liaison to the ITU Coaches Commission. Kristine has been the Director of Youth Development for Triathlon Canada and was instrumental in the production of the "ITU Kid's Training Video."
  
• Brett Mace of Australia will take on the Sport Development challenges in Asia and Oceania. Brett will take a leave from his position as the head of the Triathlon Academy that he and Rami Ramachandran, President of the Indian Triathlon Federation have established at Chennai. Brett's strong coaching background within the Australian high-performance area as well as his work to establish both grassroots and elite programmes in India will be a great asset to Sport Development.

The Sport Development Team will work in close collaboration with the ITU Executive Board, and particularly the 5 ITU Regional Representatives to achieve the Sport Development goals and objectives outlined in the ITU Strategic Plan.

CAS Mediation Succeeds to Resolve ITU - Portuguese Federation Dispute:

On the occasion of the meeting between the Portuguese Triathlon Federation, represented by Mrs. Ana Belard Da Fonseca (Executive Board) and the International Triathlon Union represented by Les McDonald (President) held at the Court of Arbitration for Sport on 22 January 2005, it has been agreed without prejudice to all the parties that the International Triathlon Union will distribute the following statement in its next newsletter entitled "ITU Update", which is widely distributed to the International community and posted on the ITU website.

The parties express their satisfaction that the mediation was successful.

Denis Oswald (IOC) acted as mediator.

• Les McDonald, President
  
• Bill Walker, Sec-General
  
• Marisol Casado, Treasurer, ETU President
  
• Ria Damgren, Executive Board
  
• Dr. Klaus Mueller-Ott, Executive Board
  
• Patrice Brunet, ITU Legal Advisor and Chair of the Constitution Committee
  
• Loreen Barnett, Executive Director
  
• Clive Faine, Chair Duathlon Committee

• Bernard Saint-Jean, FFTri, ITU Council
  
• Gergely Markus, ETU Secretary General, Head of ITU Sport Development
  
• Jasmine Flatters, Credentials Committee, BTA President
  
• Sheila O'Kelly, Head of ITU Events
  
• Ed Rice, Head of ITU Media and Television
  
• Enrique Quesada, Sport Development and ITU Rankings Officer.
  
• Rolf Ebeling, ITU Coaches Commission

While in Lausanne the ITU team also met with:

• Dr. Jacques Rogge, IOC President. Les McDonald, Sheila O'Kelly, Rolf Ebeling, Patrice Brunet and Loreen Barnett met with the IOC President on Friday 21 January at Chateau de Vidy. During the meeting, which covered many aspects of the Olympic Movement, we made the request to increase the number of athletes in the triathlon to 75 x 75 for the Beijing Olmpic Games 2008. Dr. Rogge is committed to holding the total number of athletes to 10,500 and many IFs have asked for either more athletes or more medals. He did not say "No", but did say that we will have to convince the Programme Commission.
• Lausanne 2006 LOC: The members of Team ITU present in Lausanne enjoyed a splendid evening with Claude Thomas, chair of the Lausanne 2006 World Championship Organising Committee and Sabrina Tramparulo, his charming assistant. Final details for the elite, junior, U/23, age group and AWAD courses are near completion. All of the events will take place in d'Ouchy beside the port and we will try to include a run course through the garden of the Olympic Museum.
  
• Pamela Vipond, Olympic Solidarity (OS): Pamela was a gracious host and patiently walked us through the 20 global and continental programmes that Olympic Solidarity offers. The new programmes for the Beijing Olympiad will be available shortly and the ITU Sport Development will create a template to assist NFs applying for funding. The Sport Development Team will also work to enhance funding for ITU projects with OS funds. She also suggested that the Sport Development Team copy her on all NF project applications so she can assist with the process. Pamela also granted permission for ITU to use the Olympic Solidarity logo on our letterhead and as part of our event branding at ITU events.
• Tom Dielen, WADA: Tom emphased the "education" focus of WADA in the future, which was very consistent with the future work of ITU Sport Development. He did caution us that given we are made up of 3 sports that already have doping problems, i.e., swiimming, cycling and track, we have to stay on top of doping because of the potential for cheating in our sport. He also stated that "out-of-competition" testing is of paramount importance. We discussed various methods of ensuring that the athlete location data is current and agreed that the NFs should be responsible for online updates of athletes locations. Tom Dielen also stated that Regional Doping Agencies will also make testing more streamlined and will be easier for us to ensure that both in-competition and out-of-competition testing are conducted in the appropriate way. NF Rules have to be compliant with the ITU Doping Rules. All NFs will be instructed to ensure that their rules are in-line with ITU Rules. Tom advised ITU that our technical delegates must become more proactive in guaranteeing that arrangements are made for "in competition" testing. It is not enough to write it in the contract and then not follow-up to make sure it happens. Sheila O'Kelly will make sure that this is a strong responsibility in the TD Checklist.
  
• Kelly Fairweather, IOC Sport Director: We spent a delightful time with Kelly Fairweather at the IOC Headquarters. We discussed many aspects of the success of Athens and our Road to Beijing Strategic Plan.
  
  Increasiing the Quota for Triathlon: On the topic of increasing the triathlon quota to 75 x 75, Kelly was cautiously optimistic. He stated that he would be working with the Programme Commission in March to finalise the quota for all sports. ITU will prepare a document of rationale for a major submission to increase the number of triathletes in the Olympic Games. We have to make our rationale distinct and unique so it stands out against the submissions from the other IFs.
  
  Beijing Venue: We discussed the need to finalise the venue. The location close to the Ming Tombs is too far from Beijing, i.e., 1.5 hours by car. An ITU Team will visit BOCOG in the coming weeks. We are prepared to look at a less challenging bike course to have the event in the city.
  
  Beijing Competition Manager: We discussed the need to ensure that the most talented person from our team be appointed to this position. We will build partnership plan to fast track the development of national technical officials in China. We will work closely with our good friend Lou da Peng, Vice President of IAAF and former President of the Asian Triathlon Confederation.
  
  Olympic Qualification Criteria: Kelly informed us that he needs to get the qualification criteria to the NOC by the end of 2005 for their approval. We stated that we would have a 2 year qualification period and that we'd get our proposal to him by June 2005.
  
  Winter Triathlon: We raised the question of having Winter Triathlon on the programme of the Winter Olympic Games, which was met with support. We need to increase the number of countries that participate and the number of continents at the World Championships. ITU will ask Canada, USA and Japan to send athletes to the Winter World Championships in Slovakia.
  
  Sport Development Funding: The IF money that used to be distributed by Olympic Solidarity is now under Kelly Fairweather and the IOC Sport Department. We discussed our new Sport Development department and plans to put $1,000,000us of our Olympic television money back into sport development. Kelly seemed very impressed with this effort and with our 4 year strategic plan. We will be eligible for sport development funds from the IOC. The submission of our plan must be in to the IOC by March.
  
  Official Opening of ITU Office In Vancouver: Kelly will be in Vancouver 5 - 7 April at which time he has agreed to attend a formal opening of the new ITU office.
• Bob Fasulo, Director ASOIF: We met with Bob in the ASOIF office and reviewed our progress since the Vancouver Congress.

Vancouver ITU Leadership Meeting: The ITU Leadership team will meet in Vancouver the week of 14 February to consolidate the actions plans for 2005. The 12 members of the recently appointed ITU Leadership Team will be in attendance at the meeting: The major outcomes of this meeting will be:

• Finalise action plans for 2004 based on the five key areas of the ITU Strategic Plan: Administration and Finance, Sport Development, ITU Events, Media and Television, Marketing and Sponsorship.
• Review Budget associated with Strategic Plan;:

2005 ITU Athletes Agreement: A new and improved ITU Elite Athletes Agreement will be sent to all NFs shortly. NFs are required to ensure athletes sign the ITU Agreement prior to their entry into an ITU event. There are some minor changes which will have a very positive impact on the relationship between athletes, the LOC and media and television: The key changes to the agreements are:

• Online registration by NFs of each athlete eligible to complete in the elite category of any ITU event.
• Online updates to athletes profiles by each athlete
• Online posting of current athlete location information for WADA
• Uniform Guidelines remain the same with the exception that country colours will be required for all ITU World Cup and World Championships as of the Gamagori ITU World Championships.
• Each athlete's NF will be required to update current doping results online, which will be posted on athlete profile.
• TUEs must be confirmed online
• There will be an NF penalty of $300us if they register an elite athlete into a World Cup and they "no show".

AWAD and Paralympics: David Curnow who was recently awarded the status of "Honourary Member" of ITU has taken a strong interest in steering this initiative through to Paralympic Programme Status. He has already worked with his own federation, USAT to set up an AWAD Series in the USA culminating in the World Age Group Championships in Honolulu 9 October this year. Events: In the short term the focus will be:
2005 Triathlon World Cup Series
2005 World Championships.
2006, 7 World Championships

USAT PC Commission / Challenged Athletes FoundationParalympic Triathlon Development Team
USA Triathlon and the Challenged Athletes Foundation is again sponsoring a Paralympic Development Team for 2005.
We've tentatively scheduled four races around the country (there will likely be a May or June race added.) and are seeking a man and woman from each USAT PC category http://www.usatriathlon.org/Rules_Officials/rules.htm#Addendum_PC but the race series is not exclusive to this sponsored team. All PC triathletes are encouraged to choose at least one of these events and participate. Are you interested? We are accepting applications right now.

You must apply before February 15th. Looking forward to hearing from you. Fill out the attached Excel application and send it to emg@cox.net *(Please don't simply "reply" to this message or all these fabulous graphics will come back to me.)
Note: Preference will be given to 2004 team members.

• Honolulu, HI
  JAL HONOLULU TRIATHLON
  Sunday, April 17th
  http://www.honolulutriathlon.com/exec/honolulu/index.cfm?publicationID=160
  
• New York, NY
  FORD NYC PAN-AMERICAN TRIATHLON
  Sunday, July 10th
  http://www.nyctri.com/Chicago, IL
  
• ACCENTURE CHICAGO TRIATHLON
  Sunday, August 28th
  http://www.chicagotriathlon.com/
• Honolulu, HI
  ITU TRIATHLON WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS
  Sat. /Sun., October 9th /10th
  http://www.honolulutriathlon.com/exec/honolulu/index.cfm?publicationID=160

HOBART ITU OCEANIA CUP TRIATHLON: For immediate release: With just under a fortnight to go the 2005 Hobart International Triathlon is taking shape. Australian Olympian Simon Thompson and the USA's Barb Lindquist head the list of confirmed elite entries.

Lindquist who finished the 2004 calendar year ranked number 1 in the ITU Rankings has over the last 3 or 4 years dominated the Australian domestic season. A multiple world cup winner Lindquist represented the USA at the Olympic games in 2004, where she was in medal contention going into the run before fading slightly to finish a highly credible 9th.

Thompson emerged last season as one of Australia's very best triathletes. He beat the best in the country on two occasions to secure a berth on the men's Olympic team for Athens. A bike crash during that event took him out of medal contention although he impressed to recover and finish 10th just a minute and half behind in the strongest race of any event last year.

DTA events Executive Director Kerry Stubbs was quick to point out that Lindquist and Thompson will be strongly challenged. " Despite their impressive credentials Barb and Simon are not guaranteed a podium finish" he said. "We are thrilled with the quality and depth of the competition" "Our elite athlete coordinator Craig Redman is currently talking with a number of Australia's elite men to confirm their participation in Hobart whilst the women's field is taking shape much more quickly" Stubbs said.

Maxine Seear who represented Australia in Athens along with Sydney Olympian and Commonwealth Games medallist Nicole Hackett, and the winners of the past two under 23 world titles in Annabel Luxford and Nikki Egyed have all confirmed their intention to race Hobart.

The response of Australia's age group triathletes to Hobart has been excellent. The Hobart event is a selection race for the world age group championships to be held in Honolulu later this year and more than 250 mainland triathletes will be competing in the event. "This level of support is really important as it ensures an economic return for the investment of state and local government and sponsors in the Hobart International Triathlon" Stubbs said.

Sunday February 20 will see a full day of triathlon action in Hobart. Racing commences early in the morning at 7 am with under 19 men and women followed by age group competition between 8.30 and noon. The Elite and under 23 women's race starts at 12.30 with elite and under 23 men starting at 2.30.

All racing will be conducted in and around the waterfront with Princes wharf being at the centre of the action. Elite athletes will be competing for $30,000.00 (thirty thousand) in prizemoney with $6000.00 (six thousand) going to the first woman and man.

Kerry Stubbs :Executive Director, DTA Events Malcolm Wells
0418 106 160 Media Liaison
0364234548 0407256337

ITU 2005 Winter Triathlon World Championships ITU President, Les McDonald writes: Greetings to the athletes competing at the ITU Winter Triathlon World Championships in Strebske Pleso, Slovakia. Best wishes also to your friends, coaches and relatives who may be visiting Strebske Pleso in the high Tetra Mountains of Slovakia for the first time. The International Ski Federation (FIS) held its World Ski Championships in Strebske Pleso in 1970 and several World class event since then including ski jumping and cross country skiing.We are following in the steps or rather the tracks of our sister International Winter Olympic sport. Check out the FIS Hotel in town and enjoy the friendly ambience of the Slovak Mountain folk, in particular Jozef Juracek, Secretary General of the Slovak Triathlon Federation - he is at your service. As the Olympic Winter Games scheduled for Torino next year draws closer, I know that we all wish that somehow, someday, we may find the Winter Triathlon included. Whilst in Lausanne at the Olympic Headquarters recently with several of our ITU European leaders including Marisol Casado (Spain), Ria Damgren (Sweden), Gergely Markus (Hungary), Loreen Barnett (Canada), Patrice Brunet (Canada) and Rolf Ebeling (Germany) (All cross-country skiers, besides cyclists and runners by the way!) we met with several of the IOC officials including the Director of the Olympic Programme Commission, Mr. Kelly Fairweather. Amongst several items discussed was the possibility of including the "Winter Tri" someday in the Olympic Games. He was cautiously optimistic and thinks we have a great sport. Allow me to remind you, dear friends, that the Olympic Charter states, "Only sports widely practiced in at least twenty-five countries and on three continents may be included in the programme of the Olympic Winter Games." Let us work together to achieve this objective.A splendid display of technique, high performance, élan and sportsmanship (and sportswomanship!), which is always apparent in all of our multi-sport events, will be on view in Strebske Pleso. We will be televising the competition for worldwide distribution so smile when you see the camera!Good luck - try hard - have fun!

Winter Triathlon's Strong Season in Europe: The Strebske Pleso ITU Winter Triathlon World Championships, 5, 6 March will be the culmination to a 4 race season of racing in Europe. Freudenstadt, Germany kicked off the season by hosting a highly successful European Championships on 15, 16 January. The series moves to the Czech Republic this coming weekend (13 February) for an ITU Winter Triathlon World Cup event at the popular winter resort of Move Mesto. Then it's off to Norway for the Holmenkollen ITU World Cup Winter Triathlon - what a delight to have a Winter World Cup on this world famous ski area. ITU Media will be bringing you live updates from each of the Winter World Cup events. A huge thank you to our federations in Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia and Norway for ensuring that Winter Triathlon moves closer to that magic number of 25 countries on 3 continents Our World Championships in Strebske Pleso is critical - we need to have 25 flags there, as well as competitors from the Americas and Asia.

ITU DUATHLON NEWSLETTER - FEBRUARY 2005
Clive Faine, Chair of the Duathlon Committee writes: Welcome to the first Newsletter of the 2005 season. As you probably know, at the ITU elections in Vancouver in December a new Duathlon Committee was formally elected. The members are:

• Clive Faine of Great Britain (Chair),
• Jan Daems of Belgium
• Brian Hinton of Australia.

The Committee is elected for a four year period and this gives us a strong base to work from to improve all aspects of the sport, from its governance to participation at both Elite and age group level.

Further members representing the ITU World regions will be co-opted to the committee. Jack Bianchi of the USA is the first of these members. Further info in the next newsletter.

It's important to set the scene for the 2005 competition season, in particular our World and European Championship programme and the announcement of the 2005 ITU World Duathlon Series events. Firstly, however, confirmation of the 2004 World Series results. Whilst these are available on the ITU website www.triathlon.org, the Women's Rankings is not correct as it currently excludes the last round in Varallo, Italy. So I am pleased to confirm the final top ten placings in the 2004 World Series as follows:

1. Anthony Leduey FRA
2. Jurgen Dereere BEL
   
3. Armand Van Der Smissen NED
4. Lino Barruncho POR
5. Francois Lhuissier FRA
6. Javier Garcia ESP
7. Tom Jeffrey USA
8. Benny Van Steelant BEL
9. Greg Watson USA
10. Nicolas Lebrun FRA

Women's Ranking

1. Laura Giordano ITA
2. Anne Jorgenson DEN
3. Catriona Morrison GBR
4. Amory Rowe USA
5. Ann Curi-Pressig USA
6. Erika Csomor HUN
7. Desiree Ficker USA
8. Bianca Simpson NZL
9. Annie Emerson GBR
10. Kathy Kasischke USA

Since it is not possible to arrange a formal presentation of these awards at one gathering, the prize money for these athletes will be sent out direct from the International Triathlon Union shortly.

For 2004 the bonus pool money in total is US$10,000, the percentage breakdown is available on the ITU website. Congratulations to these athletes.

It was pleasing that the series attracted over 120 elite athlete entries from all over the World.

So on to 2005 and ITU is pleased to announce the provisional calendar for this year's World Series as follows:Debrecen Hungary 14/15th May 2005 - European Short Course Championships - www.etu-triathlon.org and www.dbsportcentrum.hu
Barcis Italy - 29th May 2005 - World Long Course Duathlon Championships - www.valcellinatriathlon.com
Mason Ohio USA - 12th June 2005 - US National Championship event - www.usatriathlon.org and www.dannonduathlon.com
Cornerbrook* Canada - 16/17th July - ITU World Cup - www.triourworld.com
* This event will be part of the ITU Triathlon World Cup, Trifest 2005 weekend. Cornerbrook will, of course, host the 2006 World Short Course Duathlon Championships. At present this event is provisional.
Newcastle New South Wales Australia - 25th September 2005 - World Championships - www.worldduathlon2005.com
I am pleased to announce that ITU have increased the prize fund for the series to a total of US$20,000 and, in conjunction with the event organisers, have agreed additional funding to assist athlete travel, hotel and homestay arrangements on an event by event basis. Best four out of five results to count. With the addition of the Long Course event to this year's series we can truly expect our winners this year to be the best Duathletes in the World. As in previous years, up to date rankings will be displayed on the ITU website throughout the season.Keep in touch with the exciting changes to the ITU website via www.triathlon.org. There will be a greater opportunity for Duathlon to expand its ITU website presence with more input and info from the World's best athletes.
Clive Faine
Chair ITU Duathlon Committee

• 2005 World Cup Calendar