Junior Open Water Swimming

British Triathlon South East and London region in association with TriSport Coaching are pleased to announce five open water training days for all junior athletes. This is to coincide with the first official open water swim for juniors at Dorney Lake in July.

Thanks to Mike Trees of Triathlon Consultants and 2XU our juniors will be able to swim and practice their open water technique at liquid leisure in Datchet. These sessions will be coached by the South East and London Regional Coaches. Youth from the London Region will also be joining us for the sessions.

The dates are as follows:
3rd and 10th May 2008
7th and 14th June 2008
5th July 2008

The cost for each session is £3.50. TriSport Coaching will have some 2XU wetsuits available for hire with an option to purchase. The start time is 6.00am and the session runs for approximately 1 hour.

Martin Allen, TESE Youth Series Regional Co-ordinator

Chairman's Report 2007

2007 saw the inauguration of Triathlon England as the membership and development body for the sport of Triathlon in England. Triathlon England South East (TESE) remains the largest region in terms of population catchment (8 million approx), number of events (122) and race starts (over 20,000).

In order to continue to provide growth and improved member services a Regional Plan has been prepared in order to document a strategy and Key Performance Indicators to assess achievements versus plan. This will be a rolling document, revised and updated into the future.

The continued hard work by young athletes and volunteers within the region resulted in a third consecutive win for the South East at the Inter Regional Championships in Glasgow. Congratulations to the whole team.

I am pleased to report that a fourth victory may be possible on home turf in 2008 as the Board of the British Triathlon Federation has awarded the South East the opportunity to host the IRC. The successful bid is based around the K2 centre and the provisional date is August 30th. Well done to all involved in the bid and thanks go to John Thraves, Director of Community Services for his endorsement of the bid. Opportunities for our high performing young athletes were taken forward this year by the addition of a Regional Talent Coach, Glen Cooke.

2007 also witnessed the first national series of triathlon introduced events for children. Sponsored by Corus, and under the banner ‘Kids of Steel', every Triathlon England region promoted one such event. In the South East this event was held at Crawley K2. Despite conditions threatening to thwart best laid plans the event went ahead successfully and VIPs including the Worshipful Mayor of Crawley, the Director of community services for Crawley, the President of BTF and the Chair of TE were able to view over 600 children enjoying an introduction to the sport.

2007 Regional Awards were as follows :
TESE Coach of the Year: Paul Holmes
TESE Official of the Year: Jane Vine
TESE Volunteer of the year: Martin Allen
TESE Event of the Year: Urbanrace Brighton Triathlon
TESE Club of the Year: Farnham Tri Club

And finally….I would like to say a huge thank you to Jude Ford, who leaves us in November to take up a post with UK Sport. Her enthusiasm, drive and hard work has been key to the development of the sport in the South East in the last 3 years.

Martin Harris, TESE Chair, October 28th 2007

Welcome To Our New Blog

A very warm welcome to the first post on our new Triathlon England South East (TESE) regional Blog. Why have a blog? Well it seems a good tool for us to communicate news about the region in a bit more detail and in a quick and easy way. Within the new structure of Triathlon England more emphasis is being placed on the regions to be more active and structured. In the 2 years that I have been on the regional committee I have seen it grow from a very small informal group to a more engaged and active committee. Our TESE Chair, Martin Harris, is our representative on the council of Triathlon England under the new TE structure and we definitely have a more engaged and fluent flow of communication and ideas as a result.

However, there is lots more work to be done to embrace the potential of our sport both on the ground and in administration. The key as ever lies in volunteers. The sport requires people to 'do stuff'; from the one off volunteering at events to the regular commitment of individuals at committee meetings and sub committees. From the coaches who are developing themselves and their athletes and the event organisers who are building teams and endlessly planning. The sport simply needs people to 'get involved' and it needs the skills that are out there within the membership. As an example we have had a media officer vacancy on the committee for as long as I can remember yet a small amount of input in this area would really help promote the sport. Understandably people are busy in modern life (especially triathletes) and extra unpaid work is the last thing on an individual's mind but the fact remains any such community contribution is extremely rewarding. It has also surprised me when talking to some members that they are not aware of the regional committee and its workings and goals. I hope that this blog will help improve awareness and in another small way contribute to the development of our sport and all the positive things it stands for.

Dan James, TESE Secretary