November 2004 London Region Newsletter
Welcome to the 2nd edition of the London region newsletter. The aim of this is to keep in contact as the London Development Officer with the people of London, but also as an essential communication link to keep everyone up to date with the ‘goings on’ in the capital.
I have also attached the latest Sport England newsletter.
As it seems already to have been a valuable source of communication for us all involved in the sport within London, it would be great if all clubs could send me a brief update on the clubs monthly goings on. Not compulsory and no set deadlines (aim for the beginning of December if you are interested). Just an idea? Also if there is any other information people would like to post on this newsletter, feel free to send me anything.
So that people are aware of who this newsletter goes to, the list includes obviously the Mailing List (incl. the current Committee and current Steering Group), but also every London Borough Sports Development Officer, every School Sport Coordinator across London, the London Region SportsCoachUK Manager, Sport England HQ(London Region), The London Active Partnership, Limelight Projects (who organise the London Youth Games), Borough Team Organisers (London Youth Games), and the major event organisers in London (Human Race and SBI (London Triathlon)) . I hope this makes it clear that this news reaches a wide catchment across London; your voice is heard.
Like I said in the October newsletter, if you do not want to receive further updates, please let me know. There are currently 201 contacts on the London database. If you have received this via a ‘forward’, please send me your details (name, contact details, club, any role within the sport e.g. coaching or refereeing) so I can add you to the list.
For those that may be new to the sport of triathlon, welcome. For further information on our sport try these following websites: and For information on the individual sports, try the following: Cycling Swimming , and athletics .
This months goings on…..
AGM 2004
With the British Triathlon Association AGM rapidly approaching at the beginning of December (The Annual General Meeting of the British Triathlon Association will take place on Sunday, 12 December 2004 at 11.00am in the Beckwith Buliding, Loughborough University, Epinal Way, Loughborough, LE11 3WX), please make the effort to vote if you are a current BTA member (you should have received your voting form with your new edition of ‘Trinews’). For those who may be unaware, Peter Coulsdon and Jasmine Flatters are both going for the Chairman position, so every vote counts.
British Triathlon Handbook 2005
A reminder to all clubs. Please can you make sure all club info is submitted to British Triathlon HQ by 6th December 2004 to ensure inclusion in the British Triathlon Handbook 2005 (Club affiliation forms should have been sent out).
MICHELOB ULTRA LONDON TRIATHLON MEETING
I recently met with the organisers of The Michelob Ultra London Triathlon ( at their HQ in central London. We discussed the future of the event, how it can become part of the ‘London Region’, and how it can form links with the local clubs of London. Very encouraging for the sport as well as our region and great that such a big event can actually help the London Region in meeting its targets. Watch this space!!!
COACHING COURSES AT CRYSTALPALACE
Congratulations to all those who recently attended the recent Level 1 and Level 2 British Triathlon Coaching courses at Crystal Palace during October.
NATIONAL BRITISH TRIATHLON VOLUNTEER STRATEGY
There is a new section on the British Triathlon website about Tri-Volunteering. It has information on anything going on in volunteering in triathlon at the moment, including articles about regional volunteer of the year awards.
***NEXT LONDON STEERING GROUP MEETING***
THERE WILL BE NO DECEMBER STEERING GROUP MEETING.
WITH CHRISTMAS RAPIDLY APPROACHING, CLUB AGMS, CLUB XMAS PARTIES, AND THE NATIONAL AGM, I DO NOT PERSONALLY FEEL THAT ANY PLANS THAT ARE MADE DURING A MEETING IN EARLY DECEMBER, WITH TARGETS TO BE CARRIED OUT LATER IN THE MONTH ARE LIKELY TO OCCUR. A MEETING IS REQUIRED TO HAVE A PRODUCTIVE RESULT FROM IT. I PROPOSE TO SEND EVERYONE A LIST OF THE PROPOSED ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES WITH A DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS INSTEAD.
IF ANYONE OBJECTS TO THIS PLEASE FEEL FREE TO CONTACT ME.
London Region Steering Group Meeting November 2004
The second London Region steering group meeting was held on November 2 at SkillsActive HQ, central London.
Those present included Tim Weeks (London RDSO), Lynda Chase (Met.Pol., Sanction Officer), Alan Spelling (Met. Pol.), Sam Meehan, Gary Holland (Tri London), Colin Thompson (Z-Tri), James Beckinsale (Optima), Jack Birrell (Thames Turbo), Wayne Owide, John Levison (Hillingdon, East London), Dan Bullock (East London), Elizabeth Fernando (FulonTri), Friedel de Beer (Team Squeeze).
Apologies for Absence were received from John Petrides, Erskine Lewis, Richard Price, John Lunt, Steve Freestone, Dave Wardle, and Andrzej Warhaftig.
I have summarized below the main areas of discussion:
- Role of the steering Group
- To bring a team of individuals together with specialist experience, in different areas to assist with the London regions development (prior to handover and creation of new bigger London Committee)
- Allows the people involved in triathlon in London to make a difference.
- Website Development
Richard Price is our website coordinator
Ideas should be submitted to Tim, to pass on to Richard. The site should strive for minimal maintenance.
The site needs to be linked into every London Borough website.
It was decided that the following sections should exist:
Club Section; should contain map of London (showing London Boroughs). Highlight a borough and the clubs details in that Borough appear. Incl. Club Name and location (postcode?), Weekly Meeting Place and Time, Contact Name and Email/Telephone. Clicking on name should link to club's own site.
Coaching section: Should contain list/database of all available coaches in the Region.
Names, qualifications, contact means (phone and/or email), Willingness to chat/advise. Dates and Details of 'Master Classes'. New coaching information.
Junior Section: should be fun and accessible and contain:Links to Clubs and Tri Academy/school locations/dates (see TriAcademy)
Technical Section: list/database of all Referees in the region. Details of Technical coordinators for the region.
Events Section: calendar style. Aim to reduce race clashes.
Volunteers section: database/list of available volunteers.
- Race Series Feedback:
In the original discussions during the formation of the One Stop Plan, it was suggested to re-introduce a race series (apparently one existed in the early-mid 90’s). But why? Reasons for race series (meeting OSP objectives):
1. Increased level of participation in tri, du, and multi sport events
2. Identification of effective talent search structure
3. Opportunity to increase awareness of London Tri club profiles for newcomers
Below is a summary of the possibilities that were discussed (fed from stage 1 meeting; Tim Weeks, John Petrides, Alan Spelling):
SENIORS:
.
•Creation of Triathlon London League (all London Clubs involved, 1 division, working on similar principle to Surrey XC League, )
•The League Scoring system would be best 5 men and 3 women to count (otherwise smaller clubs might not have enough competitors to score).
•There might be a fee for individual clubs to participate
•All multi sport events can be included.
•However, for the event to be included in the league series, it MUST include a Novice Wave or encourage novices. A novice is defined as someone who has not participated in a continuous multi-discipline event before (to be confirmed).
•There is then a mapped route for a newcomer to enter the sport, with information on available clubs via the leagues.
•Seniors only.
•Individual points scores as well
•Possible race inclusions:
•Olympic Tri: Windsor, London
•Other distances: Eton Series, Hillingdon series, CrystalPalace, Hatchend, Thames Turbo series, South LondonSC series.
•Duathlon: Hillingdon series (minute park), Dragonslayer (ELT)
•Aquathlon: Eton, Greenwich Tritons, South LondonSC, Morden 6n6
•Team Relays: Eton
YOUTH AND JUNIOR:
•Tristar series 2005: needs a team to coordinate. Currently nothing. Races need to be selected. Promotion essential. Only 28 athletes (aged 9-16, m+f) last year. The London Region Team for the National Inter-region Champs is selected from this series. Came 11th out of 12 regions. Indicates how weak our yth infrastructure is.
•Need to link in with Tri Academies/Schools
•Long term plan: Youth Tri League like seniors incorporating all london borough clubs.
•Need to utilise Eastway and CrystalPalace.
•Current series includes:
•Hillingdon Duathlon (MinutePark)
•Hatch End Tri
•Upminster (shared with Eastern)
•White Oak (shared with Southern)… problems.
Aquathlon Series for Tristars/Youths/Juniors.
•To include London Youth Games (LYG) (open race as well as borough teams)
•2 other races at CrystalPalace (Crystal Palace Triathletes?)
•ElthamCollege Race (Simon Wintle?)
•Eton (Human Race; John Lunt)(selection race for National Aquathlon Champs, London Team) (open water) , 2 races for selection? (option of 2 in case cant make 1)
•Any others? Trent park,
•Again needs a team to co ordinate.
Other possible venues for kids events include Pools on Park (Richmond), Barnet Copthall, Eastway, Morden.
WE NEED A TEAM TO COORDINATE THESE TRISTAR/YOUTH/JUNIOR IDEAS.
- Technical Update
London is very fortunate to have 2 of the UK’s top referees in the region; Lynda Chase (020 8390 6803 / 07734 773203) and Alan Spelling (07834 827969). They are the Regions Technical Coordinators, and they are there to help. ANY questions regarding technical issues, please do not hesitate to contact them.
To avoid any possible confusion in the future, if there are ANY race queries (ANYTHING technical), PLEASE CONTACT LYNDA, ALAN or MYSELF. I know race organisers have the right to select their own referee, but before confirmation, please contact Lynda or Alan for their professional opinion.
Lynda and Alan also need to know of all events by February but wherever possible, events should have their details submitted to BTA for inclusion in Handbook by 6th December.
- Financial Update
The principle behind regional funds as agreed by the current committee is ‘expenditure to be kept to the absolute minimum and only things that directly benefits the sport’. This means that the scarce money can make a difference and goes directly back into the sport.
Any payments from the regional account have to be agreed by every member of the committee before any money is released.
Following on from this, as the current steering group meetings are well established, and will progress into the new committee meetings, are there any suggestions or offerings of a free meeting room in central London (therefore being accessible to ALL in London)? This would mean the region would not have to continue paying out for a meeting room when the money could be spent else where? If you have a suggestion or can help, please email me ()
- TriathlonAcademy
After an original meeting with Wayne Owide, Sam Meehan, Mike Jackson, Eddy Newman and Tim Weeks, the following was brought to the attention of the steering group for further discussion.
Summary:
- Aim: To have 5 London ‘Triathlon Academies’ in each of the 5 sub regions (see 7. Potential sub regional structure).
- Open to 9-16 yr olds.
- STAGE 1: To act as an intro to triathlon as a lack of yth/jnr infrastructure exists in London (only 2 active clubs (thames turbo & Camden), +Core Active (selective))
- 3 x PCM (1 swim session, 1 run, 1 bike)
- Open to 15-20 participants at first
- Wayne is going to test run an Academy set up in March/April 2005. The template can then be used for all 5 Academies.
- Long term Goal: STAGE X; 5 academies,5 weekends per yr, opportunity for gathering of coaches, parents, and kids as a ‘training weekend’.
•After stage 1, as interest grows, if there is a particular interest in a London Borough, will design template to set up club.
•Eventually want 1 club per London Borough.
The following was highlighted by the steering group:
Potentially Z-tri and Team Squeeze could have kids sections?
What is the purpose of a triathlon academy?
- Encourage kids to try our sport
- long term aim - to build new clubs in each borough.
Is academy a 'club' or just a training day (child protection and other considerations)?
Where should it happen (5 sub-regions)?
How is it to be paid for?
Numbers - 1 coach per 15 kids?
Promote at races and vice versa?
Unanimous decision to change words to 'TriathlonSchool' and that it should be a meeting point in itself and not a club.
- Potential Sub Regional Structure
For all those that attended the first London Region meeting where a potential sub regional structure was explained, please ignore what was announced! The principles behind a sub regional structure will continue, but to fall in line with the new ‘Sport England London Region Subregional structure’ the region will now be broken into 5 (see below; taken from ). The outcomes and benefits of this will be discussed by the next committee when in place.
- The new Committee and London Region AGM 2005.
TARGETS:
1. November Meeting
Structure required
Decide on roles
Think about interest areas
2. Between meetings: I will write job descriptions
3. Next Meeting (December???) OR BY EMAIL…
Distribute roles to current group
Decide on Nominations date
Date for London AGM (Jan 2005)
4. Between meetings: Hand in nominations.
5. LONDON AGM: (January 2005)
Handover
New committee.
Long term aim will be to filter down to sub regional level but at the current state I believe a structured group needs to exist at the top (6-8 months)
14 roles were suggested. Below is a list of them. A list of the job descriptions will be distributed shortly.
•Chairman
•Vice Chairman
•Secretary
•Treasurer
•Technical coordinator
•Welfare Coordinator
•Website Coordinator
•Volunteer coordinator
•Club coordinator
•Youth and Junior Coordinator
•Talent Search Coordinators
•Coaching Coordinator
•Senior League Coordinator
•Tristar/Youth/Junior League Coordinator
•PR Marketing Coordinator
15 proposed roles.
More roles = less work for all.
Some roles can be shared.
Also if some people cannot attend, there will always be sufficient numbers for a valuable meeting.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN A ROLE ALREADY PLEASE LET ME KNOW IN ADVANCE.
- Next priorities
The OSP is huge so at the last meeting the group selected 3 priorities to start work on. They are now moving, so we selected another 2. Work on the previous 3 will progress.
October Priorities were:
•1. Website
•2. Race Series
•3. Triathlon Academies.
Last time we held a vote so from those results and from discussions at this meeting:
- Coaching Structure
- Facilities investigation (pools)
- Ongoing development with October priorities 1, 2 and 3
- Any Other Matters
The following was sent in to be discussed during ‘any other matters’:
“A point I was going to raise in the Other Business of the agenda was the question of Drafting and what was to be done about it. Especially in light of the resent letter in the 220 mag, were someone who competed in the London Tri, openly admitted drafting with a raft of others, claiming this was the way forward”.
It was unanimous that this was not for discussion at a regional committee/steering group but for ‘Rules and Technical Committee’ meetings, and therefore was not considered to be within our remit.
THIS CONCLUDES THE MINUTES FROM THE NOVEMBER STEERING GROUP MEETING.
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MORE NEWS…………
INTERESTING WEBSITES AND INFORMATION
GSSI web
Optima Training Systems
Sports Coach UK
List of cycling events can be found at:
Also, the London Cyclo cross League, see
For Running in Surrey:
For fixtures in Middlesex
For fixtures in Kent
For fixtures in Essex
For fixtures in Hertfordshire
For athletics in London:
As the London 2012 Olympic bid gathers momentum, check out what London could look like if we won:
SWIMMING POOL SHORTAGE
London is continuously screaming out for more pool space, so I have begun a swimming pools mapping investigation.
Below are 2 links that clubs may be interested in. Get a letter in early!
(extra curricular activities section, 3rd paragraph)
I have also looked at the new Specialist Sports Colleges for available pools that may not be being used ( ).
The following have pools:
CaterhamHigh School (LB of Redbridge)
Coopers Company and Coborn School (LB of Havering)
ErnestBevinCollege (LB of Wandsworth)
SouthfieldsCommunity College (LB of Wandsworth)
WaverleySchool (LB of Southwark)
The following school has proposals for a new pool:
London Nautical School (LB of Lambeth)
Also for a list of pools in London that people may be unaware of, check
The search will continue in depth for every London Borough.
LONDON YOUTH GAMES 2005
The London Youth Games is going to be incorporated into an Aquathlon series this year to provide an avenue for interested athletes to continue their new interest in the sport. Despite the recent disappointing events that have taken place the last few years I want to get it back to where it should be; an exciting event that the kids of London look forward to participate in. If you do not know anything about the London Youth Games and would like to know more, and maybe how your child can get involved, check out
BELATED THANKS
Paul Newberry of Stream Foods kindly donated over 500 ‘school bars’ to participants of last years 2004 London Youth Games Aquathlon event. A massive thanks from all involved.