Old News

Saturday 5^th November 2005, 2.00 PM , Kings Sports Pavilion, Aberdeen University.

Congratulations..... JAKE VELLACOTT -- TPT Club Male Senior Champion for 2005 (second year running)

Starts in October at the Garioch Sports Centre. The club have booked a slot on Thursdays at 7.30 pm, with Barry instructing. The rates are not finalised yet, but will probably be similar to last session. The block will run right up to Christmas, and has to be paid up front.

-- This year for the first (and hopefully not last) time, Deeside Runners, Cosmic Hill Bashers and Garioch Runners are offering a combined award for the Morven, Cairn William and Bennachie hill races.

Fastest combined time wins. It will be low key this year - probably only prizes for 1st M+F, and 1st M+F vet 40 - but if we get enough interest we will be more generous next year.

The races are on successive weekends, and if you enter all 3 at the first (Morven) you get £1 off the total entry. The dates are: Morven Sat 17/9/05 1pm Cairn William Sat 24/9/05 3pm Bennachie Sun 2/10/05 2pm Any questions contact Dave Hirst on 013398 81448

Running in old or worn out shoes can lead to an increase in running injuries.

Meanwhile please post any comments on the noticeboard....(we are always looking to improve the event !!)

A challenging event in a spectacular setting and one of the finest cycle routes in Aberdeenshire.

MARSHALS REQUIRED....IF YOU ARE NOT RACING PLEASE VOLUNTEER....IT'S A GREAT DAY OUT.

There are some date changes to the series due to Peterhead pool springing a leak.

The Inverurie event originally due to take place 26th June has been moved to 24 July and will now be a full sprint triathlon.

The first event in the 2005 Senior Championship, the Aboyne Duathlon, took place on Sunday 24th. Results computed and championship table updated.

If you're looking for a holiday with a little training to relieve the boredom, then this maybe just the thing. Check out the deal here.

Should anyone find themselves at a loose end on their holidays in Rothesay on the 24th April, then make your way to the Rothesay Swimming Pool and there should be both a mini and a sprint triathlon taking place.....

The 2005 Junior Championship sprang into life on Sunday with the FFT (2) winter series event (the first being cancelled). With only 4 TPT members competing, the results have been computed and you can see the table positions on the championship page (see link above).

I'm sure many TPT members are not also ts members, so for this week, I'll give you a taste of the weekly news of who's doing what in the Scottish Triathlon Scene.

" Welcome to triathlonscotland’s tri-digest for the week ending 18 March 2005 .

East Fife Sprint

Please note that the East Fife Sprint triathlon is now full and has a waiting list. There's only a few places now left in the Novice race - get your entries in quick!

AUSTRALIAN LONGCOURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS
Australian Longcourse Championships 27th February. Two of the Scottish Elite Long Distance Squad were in action, unfortunately Louisa Edmonston and Duncan McKerracher both has problems. Louisa had been struggling with a stomach bug for the 7 days leading into the race, she finished in what she describes as survival mode and was 10th in 4hrs 26. Duncan had snapped his bike prior to the race and had to race on a borrowed bike. Jamming the chain between frame and chain ring resulted in another broken bike frame. The positive for Duncan was that he came out the water at the front of the race.

Both athletes describe the course as awesome. It was a wetsuit 2k swim; the bike had some big undulations for the first 14k then flat for the final 6k of each of the 4 laps. The run was 3 laps, fairly flat except one bit and it was very hot and humid by then. It was a great race despite feeling awful and Louise says that she would highly recommend it and would do it again.

RACE ORGANISER'S MANUAL ADDED
The triathlonscotland Race Organiser's Manual has now been added to the site and can be found in the documents box on the about triathlonscotland page.

DOCUMENTS ADDED TO WEBSITE
The triathlonscotland Strategic Plan (2005-2008), Business Plan (2004-2005, and Elite Performance Plan (2005-2009) have been added to the website and can be found in the documents box on the right hand side of the about triathlonscotland page.

GB SELECTION CRITERIA
Details of selection criteria for all GB teams are now available on the BTA website - please ensure that you familiarise yourself the requirements and notify the appropriate person if you want to be considered for selection, triathlonscotland cannot do this for you.
http://www.britishtriathlon.org/index.php?pid=30633 This includes Juniors & U23s.

SCOTTISH JUNIOR SQUAD
All juniors wishing to be considered for the team for the British Sprint Championships should race at East Fife Sprint (April 10th) or Edinburgh
University Sprint (April 19th). Please note that only athletes considered capable of finishing top 10 at the British Sprint Champs will be selected. Anyone unable to race at East Fife but who wants to be considered should notify Jacqui Dunlop.

SCOTTISH YOUTH SQUAD
All youths wishing to be considered for the Scottish Team to go to both the British Youth Championships (provisionally 11th June venue unknown) and Eton Super-Sprint (3rd July) which is the selection race for the GB team for the European Youth Relays should race at East Fife 10th April (in the Novice Race). Please note that only athletes considered capable of finishing top 10 at the British Youth Champs or making the GB youth team will be selected. Anyone unable to race at East Fife but who wants to be considered should notify Jacqui Dunlop.

NATIONAL YOUTH COACH
triathlonscotland wish to announce the resignation of Caroline Wallace from the position of National Youth Coach. Caroline has worked tirelessly with this group the past two years with great levels of success, growing the squad size and improving performance levels whilst maintaining a fun learning environment for the sports future generation. Caroline has signed a contract with a mountainbike racing team and this along with her full time job commitments has led her to the hard decision that she can no longer continue in the coaching role. She will run the March Youth Camp as her final input to the squad as national coach. triathlonscotland would like to state it’s heartfelt thanks for a job well done and wish Caroline all the best in her future ventures. The executive committee of triathlonscotland are committed to maintaining and improving the youth squad and will be working over the coming weeks / months to ensure that the squad continues to operate and improve the skills and performance of our talented youngsters.

KERRY LANG 2nd IN ITU POINTS RACE
Glasgow ’s Kerry Lang raced to an excellent 2nd place finish in Saturdays ITU points race at Richards Bay, South Africa. A winter of hard work paid dividends Kerry performing strongly throughout the race finishing 14 seconds behind the winner. This result meets the new British Triathlon World Cup Eligibility Criteria and should see Kerry receive the opportunity to race in a World Cup race – the acknowledged highest level of racing below International Championships, and the premier circuit for professional standard distance triathletes.

FRASER CARTMELL 4th, ALICE HECTOR 8th in Luke Harrop Memorial race
Scottish Elite Squad members Fraser Cartmell and Alice Hector both produced outstanding results in the Luke Harrop memorial triathlon in Australia . This is a big annual event attracting some of the best athletes in the world. Fraser’s result is his best to date and included notable scalps from the UK – Marc Jenkins, Andrew Johns and Richard Stannard. The race was won by Germany ’s Mark Petzold with Fraser missing the podium by just 4 seconds. In the women’s event Alice Hector raced well to finish eighth in the race, won by Michelle Dillon for a very good result. "

Unfortunately, for those planning to do the 2005 Lossie Duathlon this year, it has been cancelled due to a lack of marshals. This comes on top of the FFT 1 cancellation and really emphasizes the critical shortage of marshals.

So please, for the continuation of club events (both TPT and other clubs) volunteer your services whenever you can, and do not assume that someone else will be there. The only alternative will be as with many English events, where they are run on a commercial basis and charge exorbitant entry fees !!

The 2005 triathlonScotland handbook is out and a look at the club rankings (11-21 registered ts members) shows....

Second place is not at all bad, but...... with a few more club members competing (and joining ts) we could surely rack up a few more points and put the club into the No.1 spot. (Points are awarded for ALL finish positions so EVERY LITTLE HELPS.)

Let's make 2005 a year to remember......send off the triathlonScotland membership if you haven't already (** Remember...TPT gets a rebate and you get insurance and an entry fee discount !!) and enter, enter, enter some of the huge number of events in the 2005 calendar.

If you're looking for a training run over the next few months you could try an outing with the Garioch Road Runners. They always welcome new runners and their new 2005 schedule is here.

If anyone is planning to do the Tri-Buchan fun duathlon on Sunday...here are the details you need...

Fleet Feet Winter Series Event 1 due to be held this coming Sunday (27th February 2005) has been
CANCELLED. No reason given as yet.

Some TPT members might be interested in Mel Edwards' challenge.......( info here )

The first event in the 2005 TPT club championship is on Sunday 27^th Feb., the first of the FFT winter series. I'm sure you want to collect a few championship points and support your club, so ENTER NOW !!! Whatever your fitness, get out there and enjoy a great day out.

NB. Please ensure you enter under TPT to claim your points in the TPT Championship.

Aberdeen ’s LYNX PACK (named after the former Linksfield Stadium) has provided twice weekly sessions for men and women of diverse age (20-over 70) and ability since 1989. The sessions involve repetitions of distances ranging from 200m to 1 mile.

The LYNX PACK offers quality training in a relaxed format with the emphasis on camaraderie and support. The sessions are organized by Ian Morrison. Advice is freely available from members of the group with vast experience of distance running. You can take what you want from the sessions … do one rep, 3 reps, 5 reps as you wish. Or you can go for an easy run until you feel you are able to join in the session.

There are no rules, no subscriptions, no committees, but we do have a Xmas Lunch (when the Lynx Pack Awards are handed out) and T-shirts.

Well, that's this series over for another year. I've put a short report in the results section. As always, a well organised and very enjoyable series. It is suitable for all ability levels (in fact, it's aim is to encourage newcomers to duathlon) and I can certainly recommend it. If more TPT members would like to try it, I'm sure we can organise to share transport etc. The dates for the 2005/06 series are 6 November, 4 December 2005, 8 January and 5 February 2006.

I've written up a note (in the results page) on the first race of this series. Entries on the day are available if anyone would like to enter for the second or third races.

The 2005 triathlonscotland calendar of races has been posted on their website....plan your racing year now !!

I have posted a report on the 2005 New Years Day Triathlon that I took part in yesterday. (In the Results page).

I won't be doing every race in the calendar, so please consider writing up a few words on any event you take part in and send on to me.

I mentioned on my last note that 'we' should be looking to 2005 and the challenges ahead..

Quelle Challenge Roth, July 3 2005 (www.challenge-roth.com)
(swim 2.4m, bike 112m, run 26.2m)

"After a suggestion from Steve Barrett, I finally caved in and found myself saying odd things: "It's not that impossible - the run might be a bit of challenge. I've read in such and such a book it's easy and you only need to train 10 hours a week."

At this stage Barbara succumbed to Ironman-mania and entered as well. And so just before Christmas I drew up a master plan, well several, before I was happy <insane>. As I work shifts I decided on three key sessions in an eight day cycle: swim the distance, cycle four to five hours on the road or mountain bike and a long run of about 2 hours 30 minutes - all of them done at a very slow pace.

There are other elements added, time and energy permitting: a one hour bike ride and a one hour run, one weights session, one interval run <short session>, one swim technique session and a three-hour mountain bike ride. Plus core strength and stretching sessions every day <I promise>.

This base phase will last until mid-March with a week off every fourth week. Then the long bricks start, e.g. cycle 50 miles and run one hour, getting slowly longer, the worst being cycle 80 miles and run 18 miles, hmm. I will be happy with a run of 10 miles on that last one!

I'm planning to send futher brief updates in March and May and if mission completed, the final gibberish will appear in August.

IF ANYONE IS PLANNING SOMETHING AS (~~STUPID)~~ CHALLENGING THEN LET ME KNOW AND I CAN LET EVERYONE ELSE KNOW

WISHING ALL TPT MEMBERS A VERY MERRY XMAS AND A HEALTHY (and active) NEW YEAR.

Check out the race page...there's a race to suit everybody over the next couple of weeks.

Then it's back into serious training for the 2005 season....make it your best year yet !!

Congratulations to Jake, Steve and Anne on an excellent result in the first year of the TPT championship.

With a four way tie for the Junior Championship due to the small numbers of TPT members competing, it is proposed to re-visit the results and, still using the Triathlonscotland points system, do a comparison within a slightly larger group....namely the full list of competitors within each age group in each race. Hopefully you will agree that this still rates your performance within a peer group.

At this time, I have NOT checked back through the race results so I do NOT know who will emerge victorious. (I say this because I am one of the members in the 4 way tie). Should this method be adopted then I will put the results spreadsheet (a BIG file) on the site for transparency.

Before I do, can I ask all TPT members who are NOT happy with this method, and can propose another constructive method, to contact me before Friday 26th November. (Use e-mail at top of page)

Methlick was the last event in the Junior championship but, unfortunately, due to the low numbers of TPT members competing we do not have an outright champion. Excluding Jake (cos he won the Senior Championship) it leaves a four way tie. We will need to investigate a fair, but more detailed method of performance comparison........watch this space !!

Hope you all enjoyed the event.....it was great to see so many taking part, but sorry if the admin was a little chaotic but the entries were twice what we have had previously and caught us on the hop. It's been said many times before but pre-entries do help the organisers to plan properly and ultimately give you, the competitors, a better event.

Did anyone lose a bike glove ?? We have TWO different RIGHT HAND gloves (one blue & one red)

The new Executive board is as follows:

President - Jackie Meekison
Vice-President - John Dargie
Chairman/Company Secretary- Mungo Bovey
Director of Finance - Louise Shields
Director of Performance - Fiona Lothian
Director of Development - Vacant
Director of Championship Events - Richard Pearson
Director of Domestic Events - Bob Newton
Director of Communication - Kelda Spratt (Now resigned)
Director Without Portfolio - Su Floyd (Now resigned)
Director Without Portfolio - Vacant

Adventure Tri on TV

The adventure tri series at Loch Lomond and Loch Tay will be screened on Channel 4.

Prog.1    Loch Lomond 07.00 - Saturday 30 Oct.
Prog.2    The Celtic Manor Adventure Tri. 07.00 - Saturday 6 Nov.
Prog.3    Loch Tay 07.00 - Sunday 21 Nov.

(Junior championship still wide open....to be decided at Methlick Duathlon...enter now !!)

Looking for some quality run training over the winter....the Aberdeen Endurance Sessions have been established to encourage athletes of similar standards to train together in simple endurance sessions. The sessions are open to all endurance athletes male and female aged from 15+ on the 1st September 2004 (current under 17 age group) and above who wish to take part in a quality training session.

Sessions are designed around simple endurance sessions that cater for all athletes. Coaches will be present to lead sessions but

Category 1
Position	Club	Club Totals
1	Edinburgh Triathletes	3468.59
2	Edinburgh Road Club	2241.78
3	Glasgow TC	2204.90
4	Stirling TC	1645.27
5	Ayrodynamic TC	1476.55
6	Fleet Feet	1139.91
7	East Fife TC	803.35

Category 2
Position	Club	Club Totals
1	Borders TC	950.95
2	East Lothian TC	349.08

Category 3
Position	Club	Club Totals
1	Lanark Multi-Sport	573.27
2	Lothian and Borders Fire Brigade Triathlon Club	510.17
3	Three Peaks Triathletes	469.86
4	thebicyclworks.com	357.33
5	East Kilbride TC	258.25
6	Wick TC	248.12
7	Bruce TC	224.52
8	Strathclyde Police Striathlon Club	218.05
9	RAFTA	172.63
10	Lothian and Borders Police Triathletes	144.30
11	Edinburgh University	136.88
12	Lomond TC	130.98
13	Tri-Buchan	94.97
14	Orkney TC	88.39
15	Mid Argyll Triathletes	83.71
16	Tri-Changing Gear	57.08
17	Strathclyde Fire Brigade	50.37
18	Kings Triathletes	37.78
19	Inverclyde Triathlon Club	31.88
20	University of Dundee TC	20.00
21	Deeside Thistle Cycling Club	11.64

Male Senior Champion	Jake Vellacott
Female Senior Champion	Donna Gray
Male Junior Champion	Victor Allan
Female Junior Champion	Jeanette McBoyle

Male Senior Champion	Jake Vellacott
Female Senior Champion	No female competed in all 3 disciplines
Male Junior Champion	Steve Barrett
Female Junior Champion	Anne Skitmore