Althorp Duathlon event Highlights

http://vimeo.com/61000864

My feet are famous!

well done on making the GB squad Chris - you can now see more money disappear from your bank account....

Yep, nice one matey, enjoy it!

Thanks guys, especially as you've both had a hand in this.

If I start off with no money, it can't get worse, righ? The postponement of the quals has already cost me an extra €10

Well, there's the kit to buy, plus extra to get your name on it, entry fee, BTA admin, plus travel and accommodation.

But they're usually a lot of fun.

yeh - racing GB ain't all glory for the age groupers especially when you factor in that you have to pay for everything

you 2 guys gunning for the Worlds in London in September??  25 slots per a/g as opposed to the normal 18 as GB are the hosts

Not me - my swimming's never been good enough to qualify for a tri slot.  There might be 25 slots but every man, woman, and both their dogs are trying to get in.  I'll wait until it's somewhere more obscure where I can persuade the missus we need a holiday there.  " Oh look, the tri worlds are there too.  What a coincidence, maybe I should try & qualify?"

I was looking at the list of those registered to race the Worlds (assuming qualification) on the BTF site the other day as P hasn't registered her interest yet. given that the Worlds are in London and you would expect that everyone and their dog is looking for a slot, there are very few names down in the older age groups. 5 ladies and 16 men only in the 60-64 a/g so far although 2 of the qualifiers have sold out and Liverpool is yet to open for entries. Ok - there's plenty of time yet to do so, but I would have thought there would be more.

P should qualify or get a discretionary slot as an ex-GB champ - I might take a quick look just before they close and see if there's a smidgeon of a chance for a fat lad to get a slot!

we'd be going after standard race slots IC - none of this namby pamby sprint stuff...

we're both racing Dambuster which is one of the qualifiers - my problem is going to be getting within 115% of the fastest qualifying time as there are some damn quick guys out there even in the 60+ age groups.  I can keep with most until the run starts and then it's the skinny whippets like you and CD that then take off and leave me for dead....

Standard distance seems awful long...

Sounds expensive.

How much does it cost to run for GB?

you need to put your name down via the BTF website - £12 up front to be listed.  then you need to qualify.  IF you qualify then you will need to buy GB kit and pay for your race entry and all travel and accomodation costs.

it can be very expensive depending on where the champs are!!  

fb, would you agree that having to pay your own way in its entirety could put off plenty of those who could qualify, from bothering in the first place?

I'll concede that there are plenty who would be prepared to almost bankrupt themselves for the chance.

RicF - no doubt the costs of representing your country put many, who could do very well on the international stage, off.  and frankly if the destination isn't within relatively easy, aka cheaper, reach we wouldn't either.  my missus did the World's in Lausanne in 2006 and no doubt she could have been in the GB squad every year since but when the competitions are in places like Beijing, Vancouver, Wellington NZ, Turkey, Israel etc then just the costs of just getting there make it prohibitive especially for 2 people with a business to run and a life to lead.  

but as you say, there are those prepared to do it - much like many who do IM after IM hoping to get to Kona and pay out a shedload more to compete there.  

there's been a pretty active thread over in Tripetalk this week about the costs of competing in the UK causing long standing triathletes to bail from further competition as it's getting too expensive - translate that up to international competition and it's no longer a cheap sport.  OK, it's never been cheap but in relative terms it's bloody damn expensive now.

oh - and further on - as we are BTF officials now, that can be a costly exercise as well.  we can claim fuel expenses once we have to travel beyond a certain distance to an event but that's assuming the race director agrees to them (and pays up!).  and for those who get to a higher level where they can officiate on the European stage, the ITU doesn't help with any funding - you have to be self funded for travel and accomodation.  only once you get to the very highest level do you get travel and accomodation paid for which is reasonable when you could be in charge of an elite event on the world stage.

I sometimes wonder why we even started down that route!!!