Set Up Events has announced a new iron distance triathlon event for 2008, it’s called the Beach2Battleship and it's scheduled to take place in Wilmington, NC. The name of the event symbolizes what the athletes will do during their 140 mile plus run of the course (2.4 mile Swim, 112 mile Bike, 26.2 mile Run). The race starts in nearby Wrightsville Beach, NC and finishes at the USS North Carolina Battleship Memorial in downtown Wilmington, NC. All proceeds from Beach2Battleship triathlon will benefit the Wilmington Family YMCA.

Triathlon: Beach2Battleship
When: Saturday, November 1, 2008 @ 7:00 AM
Where: Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina to Wilmington, North Carolina, USA
Divisions: Age-group, Relay
Website: www.beach2battleship.com

This end of season race will also feature a half iron distance race that will take place on the same day.

It's good to see another iron distance race in North America but it will face stiff competition from another iron distance race at roughly the same time, Ironman Florida. On the other hand this will give those people who are unfortunate to get into Ironman Florida another opportunity to race the distance in a very cool city. Race organizers of the Beach2Battleship event tout that the scenic beauty of the course and all the family fun opportunities available at the beach and in the city of Wilmington will help attract many athletes to the triathlon.

Set Up Events is one of the nation’s largest producer of triathlons on the East coast. In 2008 Set Up Events will produce over 70 triathlons in five states, including North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia.

Vanessa Fernandes and Kris Gemmell won the 2007 Rhodes BG Triathlon World Cup in Rhodes, Greece this past weekend. Fernandes of Portugal added another world cup win, her sixth of the season. The win in Greece gives the 22 year old Olympic bound star 19 world cup wins which is stated equals the long standing ITU record for most world cup wins by a single athlete set by Emma Carney of Australia back in the late 90's. According to Emma's website, it states that she won 21 world cup wins, so what number is right? Either way, 19 world cup wins or one World Champion title in her six years on it ITU circuit is outstanding.

Fernandes beat out Andrea Whitcombe of Great Britain and Vendula Frintova of the Czech Republic with her time of 2:02:06. Julie Ertel was the top American women in Greece, she finished in 5th place.

On the men's side Kris Gemmell of New Zealand broke away from the field on the bike and then battled up and coming star Alistair Brownlee of Great Britain on the run. Gemmell managed to pull ahead in the final meters to claim the victory by four seconds over Brownlee, Courtney Atkinson of Australia finished in the 3rd place. For Gemmell, who qualified for the New Zealand Olympic team at the World Cup race in Beijing, it was his third world cup win. Second place for Brownlee was sweet as this was only his second world cup race ever.

2007 Rhodes BG Triathlon World Cup Results:

The country's top 100 amateur triathletes competed this past weekend at the 3rd Annual "Best of the U.S." Amateur Triathlete National Championship. This year’s triathlon championship race took place in Winter Haven, Florida at the Publix Family Fitness Weekend. The top 50 male and female amateurs from each state earned the right to compete by winning their state's qualifier race.

The competition shines the spotlight on the talent-rich field of amateur men and women from around the country and brings them together to compete against each other and as a team representing their home state.

The International distance triathlon championship race consisted of a 1 mile Swim, 24.8 mile Bike, 6.2 mile Run. Philippe Kozub of Maryland and Katie Ellis of Arizona are this year’s top amateurs and "Best of the U.S." National Champions. The team of Mark Harms and Cynthia Bannink of Wisconsin earn the "Best of the U.S." National Team Title. The combined time of the states representatives was used to determine the team results.

2007 Best of the U.S. National Championship Results:

For more results and coverage of the Best of the U.S. triathlon race in Florida check out the Best of the U.S. website (www.bestoftheustriathletes.com).

A new race with no history in the hot and popular Ironman 70.3 Series sells out in less than two months. The Ironman 70.3 Muskoka triathlon scheduled to take place on Sunday September 14, 2008 in Huntsville, Ontario, Canada reached its entry capacity today at 1,700 athletes. That is 200 more athletes than originally announced (Ironman 70.3 Arrives in Muskoka). Ontario has a huge triathlon following and it's assumed that many local triathletes decided to register for the race. The scenic and challenging course is also attributed to the sell out.

If you didn't get a chance to register for the 70.3 race in Huntsville you might want to consider the other 70.3 race in Canada that is still open for registration. The Ironman 70.3 Newfoundland triathlon which is scheduled to take place on Sunday, July 27, 2008 in Pasadena, Newfoundland, Canada still has openings. The entry fee is $225 USD.

The inaugural and only race in the Island Triathlon Series was rescheduled this week. The Island Triathlon Series features a new triathlon distance which they are calling The Island Eighty, it consist of a 1 mile Swim, 66 mile Bike and 13 mile Run. The first race was originally scheduled to take place on December 1st, 2007 on the Providenciales Island of the Turks & Caicos. The new date for the inaugural race has been changed to Saturday, March 29, 2008. The stated reason for the date change is to accommodate a title sponsor that will be announced early next year.

In the press release they state that all of the event elements, including worldwide broadcast in 85 countries, elite athlete participation and celebrity involvement would remain the same for the 2008 event date.

What the press release doesn't mention is the refund policy for those already registered and that now cannot attended because of the data change. The current refund policy as stated on their website states: Athletes who withdraw by Friday January 11, 2008 will be refunded $75 USD. There will be NO REFUNDS of any sort, for any reason, after the withdrawal date.

Today in Kona, the 2006 Ironman 70.3 World Champions Craig Alexander and Samantha McGlone showed the world that they are capable of going long. These Kona rookies were the wildcard athletes in the mix of pre-race predictions but nobody probably predicted what occurred today. In their debut at the Ironman World Championship triathlon race today in Kona both of these amazing athletes finished in 2nd place amongst a top field of professional triathletes.

McGlone has continued here winning ways this year while training for Kona, she was 1st at 5430 Half Ironman in August (new course record), 1st - at Vineman Ironman 70.3 in July (new course record), 1st - at Honu Ironman 70.3 in June and 1st at the Subaru Muskoka Chase Triathlon in June. Today McGlone, completed her first marathon and in a very respectable time of three hours. She ran in her first Ironman race and competed in her first Ironman World Championship and to finish in 2nd place is just downright amazing. Her overall time of 9:14:04 was four minutes faster than last year’s winner Michellie Jones who finished in a time of 9:18:31. Michellie Jones dropped out of the triathlon today at some point during the bike portion of the race.

For more information about Samantha McGlone and updates from Kona visit her websites: www.sammcglone.com or samanthamcgloneskonadiaries.blogspot.com

Alexander has also been busy this year participating in Olympic and 70.3 distance triathlons. His wins this year include: 1st at Newfoundland Ironman 70.3, 1st at Vineman Ironman 70.3, 1st at Philadelphia Insurance Triathlon, 1st at Subaru Muskoka Chase Triathlon, 1st at Florida Disney Triathlon 70.3, 1st at St Croix Ironman 70.3 and 1st at the Australian Long Course Championships. Today wasn’t his Ironman debut, that actually occurred this past April at the Ironman Australia Triathlon in Port Macquarie. In his debut he placed 3rd with a time of 8:38:50. Alexander qualified for Kona with his win last year at the Ironman 70.3 World Championship and decided to try it out. What an amazing day Alexander and Australia as he finished in 2nd place with a time of 8:19:04, behind first place winner Chris McCormack also of Australia.

For more information about Craig Alexander and updates from Kona visit his website: www.craigalexander.net

"I have achieved everything I have ever dreamed for in this sport except one and that is Ironman Hawaii success. I will never stop believing it is possible and will pursue this dream with commitment and passion like I have everything else in my career. People love to tell you things are not possible and criticise commitment. I want to show my children that dreaming is great and by being brave and having the courage to pursue those dreams is what life is all about. Some people will always criticise you for this approach but that is because they lack the courage to chase and to dream. I will never stop believing and will encourage my children and others to live the same way. It has been fulfilling for me."

After several years of trying and being really close, Macca finally does it today winning the 2007 Ironman World Championship! McCormack looked strong running down Alii Drive as the crowds cheered for him on his way to the finish line. It seemed as though everything went his way today. He was down almost nine and a half minutes to Torbjorn Sindballe at T2 and was able to make up six and a half minutes by mile 10 on the run, he eventually passed Chris Lieto for the lead a couple of miles later and never looked back. He finished 3 minutes and thirty seconds ahead of fellow Aussie Craig Alexander who was making his Ironman World Championship debut.

During his post race interview at the finish line Macca stated "I have dreamed of this moment for 20 years. I gave up the Olympics for this."

It was a strange day in Kona, the live Ironman coverage almost never happened because of power outages on the island disrupted internet service. Faris Al-Sultan of Germany pulled out of the race due to a stomach virus. The rematch that was hyped never really happened as rumors of Normann Stadler being sick circulated, it was then pretty much confirmed when he pulled out of the race half way into the bike course. Later on Luke Bell and Cameron Brown pulled out, Bell was having issues with his knew and it wasn't clear as why Brown pulled out. On the women's side, defending champ Michellie Jones and former champ Natascha Badmann were forced to pull out of the race at some point in to the bike course. Badmann had an accident with a cone and hurt her shoulder / collarbone; she attempted to get back into the race but eventually pulled out. It not 100% clear as why Jones pulled out, it was stated she had an accident during training that perforated eardrum and that could be the cause.

On the women's side the title was up for grabs once Jones and Badmann dropped out of race. At mile 95 of the bike it was a close battle between Leanda Cave, Dede Griesbauer and Chrissie Wellington with Kate Major and Katja Schumacher close behind. Several miles later unknown and under the radar Wellington took the lead and held it going into T2. Going out on the run Wellington held a two minute forty four second lead on Dede Griesbauer. Five miles into the run Samantha McGlone had moved up to 2nd place behind Wellington who now had a four minute fifty second lead. From there Wellington continued her surge increasing her lead to over six minutes over McGlone who was making her Ironman and Ironman World Championship debut. From there Wellington held on strong and gave Britain its first Ironman title with the win, five minutes ahead of second place finisher Samantha McGlone.

The pros and elite amateurs that didn't race in Kona yesterday were in Dallas today for the inaugural running of the U.S. Open Triathlon and what day it was for Greg Bennett who won the race, the Series Championship and the Super Bonus prize money. On the women's side Sarah Haskins beat out series point leader Emma Snowsill for the win, Snowsill finished in fourth place behind Julie Dibens and Mirinda Carfrae.

Bennett's goal in every race is to win, but today’s race included an extra incentive, he had a chance to sweep the series and win the Super Bonus prize money of $300,000. It wasn't going to be easy as the other pros racing today had a chance at the first place prize money of $60,000. Once the race started Bennett managed to stay close to the lead on the swim and bike coming in to T2 behind Matt Reed. Once on the run Bennett took over the lead early and used his 30:46 10km split to lead him to victory. Filip Ospaly and Bevan Docherty who were 30 seconds behind Bennett at mile four on the run held on for second and third place respectively.

Overall with the win Bennett takes home total winnings of $420,000 ($60,000 for winning the event, $60,000 for the series point’s championship and a $300,000 bonus for sweeping the series). This seems like it would be the biggest payout in triathlon history. Earlier this year his wife Laura earned herself the biggest first place prize money of $200,000 with a win at the Hy-Vee Des Moines World Cup race in Iowa. According to the proposed prize purse breakdown for the 2007 Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series Bennett has possibly earned over half a million dollars ($508,000) from racing in the Life Time Fitness Triathlon Series this year. What an amazing way to supplement your yearly income with five triathlon races.

2007 U.S. Open Triathlon Results:

This past Saturday at the 2007 Ironman World Championship triathlon in Kona, Chrissie Wellington took the Ironman world by storm by winning the women's championship title, her first. With the win she becomes the first athlete from Great Britain to win the Ironman World Championship title. The amazing thing of it all is that this was only her second Ironman race in her career. A month ago she participated and won her first Ironman race in Korea. Chrissie only turned pro eight months ago, as the Ironman motto goes "Anything is Possible". She is a member of TeamTBB and is coached by Brent Sutton.

Tri247.com, the triathlon resource website in the UK has posted an exclusive interview with Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington on their site. The interview was conducted by Simon Ward from TheTriathlonCoach.com who was Tri247's man in Hawaii; he got a chance to talk to Chrissie after the post-race press conference.

Simon gets this out of Chrissie right away:
I turned professional to compete in standard distance races. In fact it was only five weeks before Korea that my coach suggested I do an Ironman. I said “Am I ready?”. He said "Sure” and it’s all happened very quickly. I’m overwhelmed.

We also get to find out what's on her immediate schedule.

Interview [via Tri247]

Live coverage and athlete tracking of this year’s Ironman World Championship via the Ironmanive.com website was flaky at that. The coverage was interrupted because of a power outage that disrupted internet service. Once the service was restored, live video coverage and athlete tracking was still affected by sporadic outages.

If you missed it or just want to see it again, here is the link for the rebroadcast of the race day coverage in its entirety. http://ironman.edgeboss.net/wmedia/ironman/rebroadcast.wvx See Chris McCormack come from 9 minutes down on the run to win his first Ironman World Championship Title. Also, see rookie Chrissie Wellington take control of the women’s race during the bike and keep all other women at bay on the run to win only her second Ironman race and her first World Championship title.

Mark your calendar; get your TiVo ready because this year’s TV coverage of the 2007 Ford Ironman World Championship in the United States will be on December 1st, 2007 from 4:30pm - 6:00pm EST on NBC.

Aqua Sphere’s newest innovation provides a sleeker profile, greater durability and panoramic views

Vista, CA (October, 2007) - Aqua Sphere, the leader in high-end, innovative swim products, revolutionizes aquatic eyewear with the Vista Cross-Swim Goggle ™ – a brand-new hybrid product offering the wide views, comfort and fit of the company’s popular Seal and Seal XP products, with the performance of a competitive swimming goggle.

“The design of the Seal and Seal XP were based off of SCUBA masks, which naturally offer a wider field of vision, provide a better seal and are more universal than traditional swim goggles when it comes to fitting face shapes. We’ve taken that technology and applied it to our goggle development process to come up with a completely new Cross-Swim Goggle ™, the VISTA” says Olivier Laguette, director of marketing for Aqua Sphere.

Designed with leisure and serious fitness and open-water swimmers in mind, the streamlined Vista virtually eliminates drag with its low-profile and hard, contoured frame. “Vista is geared toward fitness swimmers and triathletes who know that proper fit and comfort matter during a workout or in a race,” says Laguette.

A new triathlon series has been launched in Australia with an all female focus. Triathlon Pink is a fantastic new initiative for the Australian sporting community, where the event’s total focus is on women. The series was launched this past weekend with its first race in Sydney. The series will have two more races this year on in Melbourne in November and the other in Hobart in December. Each event will have several distances for participant’s to choose from, they include:
- 300me Swim, 9km Bike, 3km Run
- 200me Swim, 6km Bike, 2km Run
- 100me Swim, 3km Bike, 1km Run

The events will also have a 7- 9 years old kids’ race which will consist of a 50me Swim, 1.5km Bike, 500me Run. You can compete as an individual or in a team relay in the events offered.

The Triathlon Pink goals include a focus on participation, a challenging yet fun environment for all participants and a non-confrontational environment which encourages finishing as the biggest achievement.

The all female focus goes full circle as the official charity for the Triathlon Pink series is the National Breast Cancer Foundation.

Triathlon Pink website: www.triathlonpink.com.au

The Pumpkinman Triathlon Festival which is organized by the Seacoast Riptide Triathlon Team has added a Half Iron distance triathlon race to the event schedule. The event previously only had a Sprint distance event. This will be the first Half Iron distance triathlon to be put on in the state of Maine.

Triathlon: Pumpkinman Triathlon Festival - Half Iron
When: Sunday, September 7, 2008 @ 7:00 AM
Where: Spring Hill Lodge, South Berwick, Maine, USA
Divisions: Pro, Age-group
Website: www.pumpkinmantriathlon.com

The Pumpkinman Triathlon Festival will host the Sprint distance race on Saturday and the Half Iron distance race on Sunday. It's sure to be an exciting weekend for participants.

The half iron distance race will consist of:
- a two lap swim course totaling 1.2 miles in Knights Pond
- a beautiful 56 mile rolling bike course along the Eastern Trail (paved surface)
- a scenic two loop run totaling 13.1 miles

Just a month ago the Challenged Athletes Foundation offices went up in flames (link). The fire destroyed most of the donated items for the upcoming San Diego Triathlon Challenge. They scrambled and with the generosity from sponsors and individuals they managed to get donations and items to continue with this month’s race, and now this...

San Diego Triathlon Challenge and Tour de Cove Cancelled
Due to the massive, widespread wildfires that have devastated San Diego County since Sunday (and continue to burn in the Northeast and Southeast parts of the county) we have decided the best and most prudent course of action is to cancel the 14th Annual Sempra Energy San Diego Triathlon Challenge and the Frog’s Fitness Tour de Cove scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 28, 2007 at La Jolla Cove.

The safety, well-being and enjoyment of all our event participants was the major factor in our decision-making process. At this point, we do not know what the air quality will be like on Sunday. We are also cognizant of the great losses suffered by many of our friends and neighbors across the county. We believe that after four days of severe disruptions that affected more than 500,000 San Diego County residents, and with an uncertain air quality forecast for Sunday, it is best not to proceed with the event at this time.

Julie Dibens & Conrad Stoltz were crowned XTERRA World Champs in Maui.

The best off road triathletes in the world met in Maui to vie for the XTERRA World Champion title and $125,000 in prize money. They endured a 1.5km ocean swim, a tough 30km mountain bike and an 11km off road run.

Conrad Stoltz who won the title back in 2001 and 2002 was one of this year's pre-race favorites to win the men's title and he did so today holding off Olivier Marceau who finished in 2nd place for the 2nd consecutive year. Just last month Stoltz won the XTERRA USA Championship.

Jamie Whitmore is always a pre-race favorite because she's tough and this year she has been busy and successful winning 5 XTERRA Championship races since June. Besides Whitmore, you had defending champ Melanie McQuaid, but today it's was Julie Dibens day to shine in Maui. She was the first woman out of the water and had the fastest run to which helped her stay in front of McQuaid and Whitmore. Just last month Dibens won the XTERRA UK Championship race.

2007 XTERRA World Championship Results:

Tarpon Springs, Florida (October 30, 2007) - Today, Ironman announces its newest addition to the Ironman 70.3 Event Series, Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island. Taking place on July 13, 2008, the inaugural event will consist of a 70.3 mile journey that includes a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike and a 13.1 mile run. The course will utilize a variety of Rhode Island's scenic areas to include Narragansett, the picturesque communities along State Road 102 and downtown Providence. Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island will serve as one of 28 worldwide qualifying events for next year's Ironman World Championship 70.3.

"Ironman 70.3 Rhode Island will be a major summer event for the state, drawing more than 2,000 athletes from around the world and receiving extensive media coverage," said Martha Sheridan, president and CEO of the Providence & Warwick Convention Visitors Bureau. "It is a tremendous opportunity for us to show the world what Providence and all of Rhode Island has to offer."