Welsh National Club Champions for 2006
30th December 2006

Congratulations to Carneddau Triathlon Club who won the Welsh National Club Championships in Bala for 2006. A shield trophy will be awarded to them in due course. This is a brand new trophy and will be passed onto the new winners each year. It will be engraved every year to serve as a reminder of previous winners.

As a reminder the winners are based on:-
1st, 2nd and 3rd male
1st, 2nd and 3rd female
Points will be awarded for the competitor’s position within their category (male or female), 1st = 1pt, 2nd = 2pts …. 43rd = 43pts.

Clubs may enter as many or as few competitors in the race but only the three highest positioned athletes will count. Competitors must register as competing for their respective clubs when entering the race. Clubs without competitors or having insufficient competitors in any given category will be awarded the highest points total for that category. Full teams of six will always be scored ahead of teams of five or less. In this regard clubs are encouraged to make sure they have at least 3 male and 3 female athletes in the nominated race. The club with the lowest combined score will be declared the winner. Clubs must be British Triathlon affiliated on the day of the race and from within Wales.

Mark Livesey at RAF St Athan is holding a training weekend on January 20th and 21st. It will be based at St Athan and using its excellent facilities under the supervision of a team of qualified coaches. If anyone is intestered in the training weekend and seeks further information, please contact Mark Livesey

BTF will be run by a Board of Directors. Welsh Triathlon will need to appoint a Director to represent Welsh affairs. Anyone interested in this position is requested to send a letter of application to our secretary, Bridget Heath, by the end of January 2007.

The post is voluntary but reasonable expenses will be reimbursed. The Director would be expected to attend six meetings a year as well as the AGM. These meetings are likely to be held in Loughborough.

Further details of the BTF and detailed Director job descriptions can be found on the British Triathlon website.

The Annual General Meeting of Welsh Triathlon will be held at 10am on Saturday, 24th February 2007 in the Welsh Institute of Sport, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff.

The posts of Chairman, Treasurer and 3 Executive Officers will be up for election. Nominations for these posts need to be sent to the secretary, Bridget Heath, by the end of January 2007. A nomination form needs to be completed by the proposer and seconder using the form at this link. The nominee will need to write a short report of no more than 200 words detailing why he/she would be suitable for the post they have been nominated for. At the beginning of February a list of nominees with their resumes with be published on the website together with the agenda for the meeting.

Traditionally the AGM has been very poorly attended by members of Welsh Triathlon. It is hoped that by giving very advanced warning members can make a note in their diaries and be able to attend. It is your opportunity to make constructive comments/criticisms and vote for your Executive Committee.

Note: Save nomination form to harddrive to attach it to the email address.

A level 3 BT Coaching Course has been arranged at UWIC on the dates below. If any persons are interested in attending the course or require further information. Please contact Andy Lane at eastwalescoaching@britishtriathlon.org

Day 1: 28/10/06
Day 2: 29/10/06
Day 3: 25/11/06
Day 4: 26/11/06
Day 5: 09/12/07
Day 6: 10/12/07

The Level 1 BT Coaching Course scheduled at Carmarthen will have to be rearranged due to refurbishment of the leisure facilities. Further information regarding the course will be posted on the website.

Support Drug Free Sport 23th September Cycling Weekly and CycleSport magazines are running a campaign for Drug free sport as a result of the scandals that have rocked cycling over the last few years and especially in the last few Grand Tours most notably this years Tour. As a governing body Welsh Triathlon has pledged its support to this campaign to rid drugs from sport. You to can offer your support by signing up to the campaign. The first 1000 will recieve a free 'I support drug free sport' wristband.

This year the Home Nations Triathlon Championships were held at London again on 6th August. They were incorporated into the elite and age-group waves. The London Triathlon is a huge event and unfortunately the Home Nations competition receives very little recognition as it involves so few athletes.

Wales was unfortunate to suffer a number of late injuries and withdrawals as well as being unable to find athletes of suitable quality to fill all the 10 slots. The team who raced was:-

Male Veteran - Grant Howells
Female Veteran - no selection

Male Senior - Marc Jenkins
Female Senior - Leanda Cave

Male under 23 – Thom Phillips
Female under 23 – no selection

Male Juniors – Oly Stanley and no selection
Female Juniors - no selection x2

Team Manager - Dean Hardie

England had a very strong squad and incredibly won every category to achieve a perfect score. Congratulations to them.

Although Wales could only muster 5 athletes we did well behind England. Grant, Marc and Leanda all came 2nd in their categories and Thom and Oly came 3rd in their respective categories. If we had a few more athletes in the team scoring we would have come a very respectable 2nd. As it happens there are penalties towards the final team score when no selections are made in categories. Scotland and Ireland had largely full teams. The final results were:-

1st England 9
2nd Scotland 27
3rd Wales 30
4th Ireland 33

There was a general consensus among the team managers and other officials that the needs of the Home Nations event have changed over recent years and the format needs to be altered to reflect this. There will be a meeting before next year’s events to discuss how we will move forward with the times – watch this space.

The Welsh Aquathlon Championships were held on Sunday 13th August at Aberavon Beach in Port Talbot. Celtic Tri put on the event with an open water swim from a beach start and a run along the promenade. Youths had a 1 lap swim and run with juniors and seniors having a 2 lap swim and run. The 2 lap swim required an exit onto the beach after the 1st lap with a run around 2 flags before re-entering the sea for the 2nd lap which added excitement for the competitors and spectators.

Full results can be found at www.celtictri.com along with numerous photos. This race was the 5th event in the Welsh Grand Prix series and also part of the Youth and Junior series. Current positions for the GP series can be found under the events section.

Unfortunately Wales has suffered a number of injuries to their Home Nations team for the forthcoming event next weekend in London. The team has been revised as follows:-

Male Veteran - Grant Howells

Female Veteran - no selection

Male Senior - Marc Jenkins

Female Senior - Leanda Cave

Male under 23 - Thom Philips

Female under 23 - no selection

Male Juniors Oly Stanley and Ben Powell

Female Juniors - no selection

Team Manager - Dean Hardie

The Welsh Aquathlon Championships will be held at Aberavon Beach, Port Talbot on Sunday 13th August. It is anticipated that the Youths will start at 9.45am and Juniors, Seniors and Veterans will start at 10.15am. This is also the 5th race in the 2006 Welsh Grand Prix Series and part of the Youth and Junior Series events.

Entry forms can be found on www.celtictri.com

The following triathletes have been selected to represent Wales at the Inter regional Championships. Could all triathletes contact Gareth Hall, garethhall@britishtriathlon.org regarding availability.

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