Mari Rabie and Tim Don win SA Triathlon Championships

Tim Don (GB) and Mari Rabie (RSA) won the South African Triathlon Championships in East London, South Africa. The men's national title went to Hendrik De Villiers(RSA) as the first South African to cross the line. Mari Rabie(RSA) had a great season opener winning the women's title from Ricarda Lisk (GER) and Kate Roberts (RSA).

Kate and Mari are seen just before the swim start in the Elite Women's event.

Focus on Coaching

In the past week ITU Sport Development showed a strong coaching focus in their activities.

Two coaches were awarded the BG Coaching Scholarships for 2008 namely Zeljko Bijuk from Croatia and Atherton Squire from Zimbabwe.

Zeljko Bijuk (Croatia) has been on the coaching staff for the past two years at the World Junior Camp in Tiszaujvaros, Hungary and is also the ITU Regional Development Coordinator for Europe and an ITU Certified Coach.

Atherton Squire (Zimbabwe) is a deputy headmaster of a school in Harare, Zimbabwe and is also an ITU Certified coach and the ITU Regional Development Coordinator for Africa.

ITU also endorsed the coach education programmes of two leading National Federations, British Triathlon Federation (BTF) and Triathlon Australia (TA) as part of the National Federation coaching Accreditation Programme. Both these education programmes more than met the standards set by the ITU and must be regarded among the world's leaders in triathlon coaching education.

One month to major event in Tunisia

In just one month Yasmine - Hammamet, Tunisia will play host to the ITU African Triathlon Championships, a qualifying event for the Beijing Olympic Games. Tunisia has made a meteoric rise in the sport under the careful guidance of Mr. Abdouli Abdelbacet, the current federation president and an employee of BG Tunisia.

Two coaches from the country attended the ITU Competitive Coaching Course held in Stellenbosch early in 2007 and three athletes and a coach attended the African Junior Camp in December 2007 in Potchefstroom, South Africa. ITU also organized a training camp for coaches and athletes in June 2007 in Sfax,Tunisia to coincide with the official launch of the new federation.

I had the pleasure of visiting Tunisia for the first time in 2006 and was overwhelmed by the beauty of the country and the passion of the local people. Since that first visit the national federation has done an amazing jog at developing the sport.

Photo: BG-ITU African Junior Camp 2007

(Potchefstroom, South Africa)

Zimbabwe Triathlete receives BG Scholarship for 2008

Chris Felgate from Zimabwe has been awarded a BG Scholarship for 2008 to support him in his attempt to gain Olympic selection for Beijing. Chris is currently training at the high altitude venue of Potchefstroom, South Africa alongside many local and international triathletes who choose to migrate there in the European winters. Chris has his sights set on being the second ever triathlete from his country to get a start at the Olympic Games.

The other BG Scholarship recipients for 2008 are: Leo Chacon (Costa Rica); Dan Alterman(Israel); Javier Cuevas (Domnican Republic); Zvonko Cubric (Croatia); Barbara Riveros (Chile) and Yuliya Sapunova (Ukraine). The 2008 BG Scholarships for Coaching were awarded to: Zeljko Bijuk (Croatia) and Atherton Squire (Zimbabwe).

Andres from Ecuador gets to meet Olympic Medallist

Andres Cabascango (Ecuador), one of the stars of the 2007 BG-ITU World Junior Camp, is "Down Under" preparing for the 2008 season under the watchful eye of Jamie Turner. Jamie devotes a lot of his time to the various BG-ITU Sport Development initiatives and plays host to many athletes from South America heading that way to train alongside their counterparts fromAustralia. Andres raced the Oceania Junior Championships in Taupo, New Zealand and got to meet one of the sport's finest, Bevan Docherty, on race day.

Two Team BG members from 2007 prepare for SA Championships

Two 2007 Team BG members from South Africa, Kate Roberts and Mari Rabie, are both hard at work preparing for South African Championships to be held in the coastal town of East london, South Africa on 16th February 2008. While this race is not an official ITU race it is a National Championship and always a highly regarded event on any athlete's calendar.

Kate and Mari attended the Triathlon South Africa National High Performance Camp held in Knysna, South Africa in early January where they got the chance to work with the new TSA High Performance Director, Dr.Carol Austin, who was the head cycling coach at both the 2006 and 2007 BG-ITU World Junior Camps.

Photo from TSA Website.

Conrad wins Off Road Athlete of the Year Award

Congratulations to Conrad Stoltz who won the Competitor Magazine's Endurance Sports Award for the best Off Road Athlete of 2007. The photo shows Conrad sporting his Dad's wedding suit of 1966 - one of those rare occassions one will see Conrad in a suit.

A fitting award for an incredible season.

I salute you Conrad !

Photo by Rich Cruse