220 Triathlon 09-2015

There’s a possibility I’m showing my age here, but when I was at school PE meant spending most of the time fretting about itchy green gym kit, freezing showers and how many minutes of the dreaded ‘circuit’ class I could get through before a short, angry lady in a tracksuit yelled at me. I don’t remember much fun being involved – and I definitely didn’t hear triathlon mentioned once – maybe if I had, I’d have enjoyed those two hours a week a lot more! How times have changed. Increasingly, we’re hearing inspiring stories of youngsters getting involved in the sport of tri, whether through their schools, local clubs, or events such as Ironkids, Tata Kids of Steel or one of countless others out there – and what’s more, they’re…

MATT BAIRD THE NEXT GENERATION, P42 “Ben Dijkstra has the air of a future champ. With Mo-equalling, Brownlee-topping and Olympic gold-winning feats already in his locker, it’s time to believe the hype.” MARTYN BRUNT BRUNT VS ISOMAN, P48 “As Britain’s most average triathlete I take on Britain’s most equalised triathlon in a bid to reduce my bike inferiority and make all that swimming training count for something.” JAMES WITTS PHYSIOLOGY OF AN IRONMAN, P59 “It turns out that to dominate the podia at Ironman races around the world, all you need is an average power output over 300 watts, a trunk-like core and a form of schizophrenia.” TIM HEMING LATE-SEASON RACES P96 “I’m increasingly of the opinion that a late-season race is the perfect way to…

Every issue of 220 is also available on subscription in digital format for iPad, GooglePlay, Kindle Fire and Zinio. As well as the superb content you would receive in the print version, the digital edition (iPad only) also includes exclusive videos, extended image galleries and bonus audio interviews with the great and the good of the multisporting world. To subscribe, head to www.buysubscriptions.com and search for ‘220 Triathlon’. Click on the iPad App option which will take you through to purchase your subscription (£17.95 every 6 issues, saving 19% on the standard price); set up your username and password during the checkout; download the free 220 Triathlon Magazine iPad App from the App Store; and log in to the App under ‘Subscribed elsewhere?’ using your subscription details. Bingo! MORE… 220…

ENGADIN SWIMRUN ENGADIN VALLEY, SWITZERLAND • 11 JULY 2015 Team ‘Groß und klein’ (Austrians Philip Hantschk and Daniel Grundmann), puncture the landscape being captured by a local artist, on their way to third place overall at the ÖtillÖ qualifier. The race follows the same swim/run team format as the Swedish flagship event. IRONMAN EUROPEAN CHAMPIONSHIPS FRANKFURT, GERMANY • 5 JULY 2015 Germany’s Jan Frodeno starts as he means to go on – leading. The former Olympic champ put last year’s puncture-riddled race well and truly behind him, clocking a record-breaking 4:08:44 180km bike split to set a new course record of 7:49:48. CHALENGE ROTH ROTH, GERMANY • 12 JULY 2015 Yvonne van Vlerken of the Netherlands sweeps past Australia’s Carrie Lester during the 180km bike leg. But it wouldn’t be…

Neither the driving rain, howling winds nor the cold could drain the spirits in July when arguably the UK’s best known long-distance triathlons, Ironman UK and the Outlaw, hosted a total of 4,000 pro and age-group athletes on consecutive weekends. Back in 2005, the Ironman brand made its full-distance UK debut with nearly 1,200 athletes taking to the waters of Sherborne Castle. Ten years later, the race hosted twice that number for its seventh edition in Bolton, Lancs, with the mist of that debut Sherborne outing replaced with rain and relentless wind from the 3.8km Pennington Flash swim onwards. In the pro race, much of the pre-race hype had centred on the rising Brit star Joe Skipper (see our news pages last issue), following his 180km bike-course-smashing heroics at Ironman…

One-hundred-and-ninety kilometres of water navigated, 9,000km in the saddle and 2,110km of running logged. On 25 July, in his home state of Utah, James Lawrence completed his challenge of 50 iron-distance triathlons on 50 consecutive days across 50 American states. Lawrence – AKA the Iron Cowboy who holds the Guinness world record for the most official completed Ironmans in a year (30 in 2012› – started his 50-50-50 quest in Hawaii on 6 June, before averaging 15 hours to complete the daily 3.8km swim/180kmbike/42.2km run iron course. Where double and triple Deca Irons take place on the same course each day, Lawrence had the logistical challenges of moving from state-to-state before and after each triathlon, resulting in an average of four hours sleep a night. Sadly due to an injury…