Thames Turbo Sprint Series Race 1 Report

Race 1 of the Thames Turbo Sprint Series saw a hardy bunch of triathletes take on the challenging wet and windy conditions on a blustery Easter Bank Holiday Monday. The fastest man of the day was Rory Atkins of Optima Racing Team who completed the course in 56:14. Vicky Gill of Swim for Tri took the top women’s slot in 1:04:36.

Despite the rain, there were some impressive performances from a strong field of athletes that included Jonathan Hotchkiss of VO2 Performance Bikes/PowerBar and Parys Edwards of Ful-On Tri. There was also a large number of novices taking part in their first race and we hope this event will be their first of many.

Thanks must be given to the dedicated few who stayed for the prize presentation for the overall and category winners who received goodies from the Thames Turbo Sprint Series sponsors: PowerBar; Sigma Sport; Swim for Tri; 2XU, Newton and Lanson Running.

The full category winners are:

M1	Rory	Atkins	Optima Racing Team
M2	Jamie	Hinton	St Paul Barnes Swimming Club
M3	Matt	Chapman	SLH Tri Club
F1	Vicky	Gill	Swim for Tri
F2	Parys	Edwards	Ful-On Tri
F3	Ruth	Hutton	Thames Turbo PowerBar Race Team
M17-19	Anthony	Haynes	Optima Racing Team
M20-29	Ben	Butler
M30-39	Jonathan	Hotchkiss	VO2 Performance Bikes/PowerBar
M40-49	Alan	Harris	Viceroy Triathlon Club (VTC)
M50-59	Mike	Trees	2XU
F17-19	Sophia	Saller	Optima Racing Team
F20-29	Helen	O’Neile	Loughborough Students
F30-39	Debbie	Coyle	Greenwich Tritons
F40-49	Suzetta	Guerrini	Ful-on Tri
F50-59	Sandra	Blenkinsop	Kingfisher Triathletes
Novice M	Max	Thomas	Nottingham University Triathlon Club
Novice F	Simone	Dailey

The full results are here: http://www.racetimingsystems.com/public/results.aspx?raceid=2193

Podium for Liz Pinches at Abu Dhabi International Triathlon

Thames Turbo PowerBar Race Team member Liz Pinches claimed third place at the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon on Saturday 3rd March completing the course in 4:01.33. The race consisted of a 1.5km swim, 100km bike and 10k run. Liz said “I was really pleased with a 9 minute improvement from last year. This is a great race, the best part of which was racing the bike on the Formula 1 course at Yas Marina.”

This event was the first of many for the Thames Turbo PowerBar Race Team during 2012. This team of high-level amateur athletes will be competing in various domestic and international events including James Brown, who is racing at the iconic World Ironman Championships in Kona, Hawaii later this year.

Thames Turbo Sprint Series awarded Event Qualitymark Level 2

News report taken from www.triathlonlondon.org - “British Triathlon is proud to announce that the Thames Turbo Sprint Series has been awarded the new and exciting Event Qualitymark Level 2. The new programme is part of British Triathlons drive to increase the standard of triathlon events across the country and to provide a quality assurance standard for both event organisers and athletes.

Nigel Clemens the Chairman Thames Turbo was delighted and said, ” The last couple of years have seen a rapid evolution in Thames Turbo as a club. We have increased membership significantly (most particulrly in our Youth section) and taken many areas of the club to new and higher levels. With the support of the BTF we have achieved Clubmark and Starmark and now are proud to accept Level 1 accreditation for our ever popular Sprint Series of races. Entrants can be reassured (as they have come to expect) that Thames Turbo provide safe and high quality events, attractive to novice entrants and the elite alike”.

Heather Barclay, the Series Race Director also was overjoyed to hear the news “Thames Turbo are proud to have achieved BTF Event Qualitymark Level 2 for the popular sprint race series. This demonstrates the hard work from all Turbo members behind the scenes to make the race a success and appealing to all levels from novice to elite, without it’s members volunteering at the races it wouldn’t be the success that it is.”

There are only seven other events in the country that have achieved the Event Qualitymark Level1. If you think your event is a high quality event please get in touch with Gareth Hall, National Development Manager”

Thames Turbo is now StarMark and Club Mark accredited

Months of hard work behind the scenes by the Thames Turbo committee has resulted in us being awarded both the Star Mark and the Club Mark accreditation.

Triathlon clubs in England and Wales can work towards achieving one of a number of recognised standards. These standards establish that the club is operating to best practice and is a safe and effective place to take part in triathlon. The benefits of becoming accredited are:

• Clubmark Acknowledgment that the club meets the needs and demands of athletes
• Increased revenue opportunities from new members and/or events and local funding streams
• Safe and effective training and competition environment.
• British Triathlon qualified coaches
• Clear club structures

There are three accreditation schemes available in England and Wales:

• Un, Dau, TRI (Junior clubs in Wales)
• Clubmark (Junior clubs in England)
• STAR (Senior clubs in England and Wales)

The common principles of the accreditation schemes are to enhance the club by providing a clear structure and pathway for club development. Obtaining the accreditation scheme will signify that the club has satisfactorily met a minimum level of standards recognised by triathletes, parents, coaches, Welsh Triathlon, Triathlon England and British Triathlon as a quality Triathlon Club.

More information can be found on the British Triathlon website.