Welcome back Bikey!

Hi All,

After wayyyyyy too many weeks off, we're back to update about 1000 missed items. I'll try to post about 4 or 5 times over the next little while to get caught up...

Triathlon News...

Remember a year ago, when this happened?



Anyhow, the gang's all back in Des Moines, Iowa for the 2010 edition of what is still known as the World's Richest Triathlon- the Hy-Vee Triathlon Elite Cup. A cool million dollars is on the line, including $200,000 to the winner (Kona pays about half that). Last year's winners Simon Whitfield and Emma Moffatt are both back to defend their titles. Whitfield will have his hands full with Brad Kahlefeldt, Bevan Docherty, Jan Frodeno, and a handful of top other males from Russia and the US. The women's field is even deeper, with ITU World Championship winners Barb Rivero Diaz, Emma Snowsill, Sarah Haskins, and Swiss star Daniela Ryf also in the field.

Unlike most of the ITU races this season, Canada will be strongly represented this weekend. Simon Whitfield, who is only 19th in the world rankings, will be joined by Kyle Jones, Andrew Russell, Andrew McCartney, and Jeffrey Phillips, while our top woman (Kathy Tremblay in 60th place) will be joined by Paula Findlay and Kyla Coates. Go Canada.

Before I go into rapid-fire mode, I did want to highlight last weekend's ITU World Championship Series race in Madrid. It was the third race in the series for 2010 after Sydney (won by Barb Riveros Diaz and Bevan Docherty) and Seoul (won by Jan Frodeno and Daniela Ryf). Madrid was also the 2010 debut for 2009 champ Alistair Brownlee and the woman who has more World Cup wins than anyone in history in Vanessa Fernandes, who has been battling injuries for almost 2 years. Fernandes had also won the event in Madrid every year from 2003 until 2008 before missing out last year.





So Brownlee proved he still has it, with a 31:12 run split to win his first race of the year. He is still the king of the ITU world, and the rest of the men can only be happy he's not in Iowa this weekend. Nicola Spirig also showed that the Swiss team is as strong as any, with Spirig joining her teammate Ryf as ITU WCS winners in 2010. Great race...but now we have to wait until mid-July for the next WCS event in Hamburg.

The race in Madrid was far from the only big race last weekend...almost every triathlete on the planet was racing last weekend...

• Chris McCormack - won the inaugural TriStar 111 race in Germany - a 1k swim, 100k bike, and 10k run. Where do i sign up?
• Chrissie Wellington - ho hum, first race since Kona and her January arm injury, won 70.3 Kansas race by almost 17 minutes - managed to run 1:15!
• Chris Lieto - also won 70.3 Kansas, held off Andy Potts by under 30 seconds
• Michael Raelert - dominated 70.3 Switzerland by over 7 minutes. He might be the fastest 70.3 guy in the world right now
• Craig Alexander - won Rev3 Quassy - an independant half in Connecticut that also featured Terrenzo Bozzone (2nd) and Matt Reed (3rd)
• Mirinda Carfrae - won Rev3 Quassy - started the run 7 minutes behind Julie Dibens, won by 6 minutes!
• Magali Tisseyre - won 70.3 Mooseman in New Hampshire over Kate Major and Sam McGlone
• Norman Stadler - won Challenge Kraichgau in Austria
• Rebekah Keat - won Challenge Kraichgau women's race
• Tim Deboom -won 70.3 Hawaii
• Belinda Granger - won 70.3 Hawaii women's race

What a weekend!! Could be the best grouping of professional triathletes this year!

Ok, that's enough for now. I think we're up-to-date in triathlon...enjoy Hy-Vee on Sunday!