Saturday, January 10, 2009

More Team TBB changes

Team TBB's personnel changes are continuing with a post on the team's website this week saying that Rebecca Preston and Nicola Spirig have decided to return to school.

That adds to the departures of Chrissie Wellington, Belinda Granger and Hillary Biscay.

So who's still on the team?

Well according to the photos on the website:

Bella (Comerford) Bayliss
Donna Phelan
Erika Csomor
Lisbeth Kristensen
Jocelyn Wong
Lucie Zelenkova
Maki Nishiuchi
Tereza Macel

Wednesday, January 7, 2009

Who's racing where?

Yvonne Van Vlerken - she has Ironman Germany and Kona on her list as well as 1/2 ironman events in Geelong, Singapore, Barcelona and Germany.

Gina Ferguson - she has Challenge Wanaka, Ironman NZ, Challenge Roth, Challenge France and Kona.

Jo Lawn - she will race Ironman NZ and the Tauranga half.

Hillary Biscay - she will race Wanaka.

Charlotte Paul - she's racing at Ironman NZ, Roth and Kona, then WA as well as the 1/2 event in Geelong.

More to follow ...

Van Vlerken hires Mark Allen

Yvonne Van Vlerken is the latest to switch coaches, today announcing the hiring of Mark Allen.

She also announced today that she won't seek to defend her title in Roth, opting instead to race in Frankfurt at Ironman Germany.

Wednesday, December 31, 2008

TOP STORIES 2008

1. Wellington confirms her status as the one to beat. She successfully challenged and defended her World Championship title and won races in Australia, Europe and the US with relative ease. She has reset the standard for a second year in a row.

2. Yvonne Van Vlerken sets a new long-distance triathlon record, and takes second in her Kona debut. It's unlikely the new mark will remain for the 14-year period as Paula Newby-Fraser's did.

3. The Sub Nine field expanded at such a fast rate that it was almost hard to keep the stats up to date. It's another sign of the depth of the women's field.

4. Racing long and a lot proved to be a successful strategy for a range of top athletes both in and out of Team TBB. The particular success of TBB also showed the value of training with other top athletes.

5. Natascha Badmann's long and dominating reign appears to be over. The now 42-year-old athlete dropped out during the run in Kona in October, and wasn't able to train at the level to which she was accustomed for most of the year because of the injury suffered after crashing into a road pylon in Kona in 2007.

Sunday, December 21, 2008

Year in Review

The last 12 months marked a transition for pro women as the depth of the field helped propel their performances to their highest level yet.

In the next few days, we'll review the achievements of 2008 and set the stage for what lies ahead in 2009.

Sunday, December 14, 2008

From English to English

In three months time, Chrissie Wellington has signed up with a third coach. This time it's Simon Lessing, who recently retired as a pro himself.

See Triathlete magazine

Sunday, December 7, 2008

Ferguson goes Sub Nine in WA

For the second time this season, Gina Ferguson broke the 9-hour mark. She went 8.59:24.

8:59:24 50:30 4:58:12 3:10:41

Ferguson led from start to finish.

Saturday, November 1, 2008

Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Who's on first?

So Hillary Biscay, Belinda Granger and Chrissie Wellington have left Brett Sutton and Team TBB to join Cliff English.

There's a story on slowtwitch and also on xtri.

Who is he? Well, he may be best known for coaching Sam McGlone. In the past he's also coached Peter Reid (in the pool) and Melanie McQuaid and Leanda Cave.

Friday, October 17, 2008

Sara Gross - Top 20

"Into T2 and I was really feeling like crap physically and mentally. Its hard to be in that much pain for that long. So I ran. As I got going i knew that i wasnt on fire, but that if kept up the pace it might just be enough to squeak into the top 20. And it was. Phew.

The long and the short of it is that i came to this race to learn so i could do well here in future years, and learn i did! Mission accomplished. So I should be happy right?"