News

Hello and welcome to our news page. On this page we will keep you updated with all the latest news on course availability, one to one triathlon coaching opportunities and triathlon training camps. We will also be posting regular reports on our own progress, results and media coverage, as well as those of our athletes.

September - LA Triathlon

Just a quick post. Julie finished second in the LA Triathlon.

August - London Triathlon

The world's largest triathlon saw Harry and Pete put together their best races of the season. The men's race featured a couple of world champions, Olympic medallists and probably the world's fastest swimmer in Ben Sanson. This meant the swim was on from the start and a group of around 12 athletes had a large gap over the chasing pack by the end of the swim. Harry was 2nd into transition with Pete being the last member of this front group out the water. These few seconds proved vital with Harry latching on to some of the strongest cyclists in the sport resulting in a front group of 6. Pete missed this break and was forced to sit up and wait for the 2nd pack after 15k.

The biking strength at the front resulted in Harry's group gaining a big gap on the rest of the field as they came off the bike. With Tim, Stu and Matt Reed pushing the pace from the start Harry ran with U23 athlete Dann Brook for the first 5k before pushing on to hold off the fast approaching Hendrick De Villiers and Bevan Docherty and come home in 4th place in a time of 1.44.

Pete's group didn't work quite so well together and came off the bike with a big deficit on the top ten athletes. Pete managed to build through the run picking off athletes who had headed out too fast in the heat. By 5K he'd caught everyone in his pack and ran the last 2k with Kiwi Ben Visser for company. Unfortunately Ben had more in the tank for the sprint with Pete coming home a few seconds back in 12th and 2nd U23 Brit. Due to the biking prowess at the front his time was outside 3% of the winners time meaning he missed out on qualification for the U23 world championships.

August - Comments from a Driven to Tri Athlete: London Triathlon

The swim was great fun, the swim weekend training day really worked. Getting bashed by people was not at all alarming because I expected it, although I noticed that several other people got freaked out by it. The only real problem I had was I was faster than some of those in front of me, so on the first half I had to swim out and round a couple of groups of people. But next time I will have the confidence to start nearer the front. Also the finish is quite narrow and I was in a middle of a big group when we came in, so we were literally all on top of each other for the last 50 metres. I was also incredibly dizzy when I got out.

Bike, was a lovely route, and the extra training I did in the last month really paid off. There were people whizzing by so I still have a lot of improvement to go but I am back on a better speed.

The Run was very hot, it reached 35 degrees. To be honest this was the difference between getting under 3 hours. It was 2 laps, on the way out on the first lap I had to walk some as my legs were knackered from the bike but my run back was OK and at a comfortable pace. Then on the 2nd run out I got very dizzy at the beginning, at the bottom of the ramp I was almost sick. I was just overheated. For the 2nd lap I had to run until I was dizzy then walk until I wasn't. Every water stop I grabbed water and poured it on myself. By my timing the 2nd run was about 5 minutes longer than the first one.

I want to thank you guys. I can't believe I have gone from just wanting to be able to complete the race to trying to almost getting under 3 hours. To be honest I am already trying to work out how to get to 2 1/2 hours.

July - South West Talent Identification

Driven to Tri Coach Harry Wiltshire has been announced as the South West region’s Talent Identification Officer by the British Triathlon Federation. Harry commented “I’m really looking forward to helping develop a national strategy for Talent Identification and to implement it in the South West. If there are any budding triathletes out there get in touch or come and say hi at a race.”

July - French Grand Prix

Last weekend Pete and Harry traveled to Avignon in the South of France for the first race of the Division 2 French Grand Prix championships with their team ESMGO Triathlon. ESMGO were relegated from the 1st division last season and the aim was to get promotion to the top flight for next year. It was hard to know what to expect, with 80 guys racing at the very top level in division 1. However the standard proved to be very high with the top 22 athletes finishing within a minute of each other.

The swim was very short, but Harry found his way to the front and came out first with Pete on his shoulder, out onto the bike and the narrow flat course with a strong headwind did not make for breakaways and we ended up as a front pack of around 50. This resulted in a crazy T2 and this, combined with some psyched up French athletes left both struggled to go with the pace early on. Pete’s strategy of not running for three weeks due to injury seemed to act as a nice taper and a strong second lap saw him finish 6th. Harry struggled to go with the pace due to his crazy racing schedule but pulled up a little to finish 20th.

 

June - Windsor Traithlon

Harry decided that after a winter’s run specific training it would be a good idea to break away on the swim with Richard Stannard and try and 2 up time trial away from the field on the bike. The swim saw Harry and Richard gain around 50 seconds on the 2nd pack and 2 minutes on Richie Nichols, the fastest runner from the national championships. Onto the bike and Richard and Harry decided to go it alone and took turns on the front trying to build on their lead from the swim. After 30k they had around 30 seconds which they extended to just over a minute by T2 on a pack of 10-12 athletes.

Out onto the run and Stannard pushed hard on the first lap heading up the steep hill to Windsor castle, Harry decided to let the gap open up and concentrate on his own race. Unfortunately, by now he’d spent all his tokens on the bike. At around 4k Ritchie Nichols went past and went on to finish second around 10 seconds behind Stannard. At around 7.5k Steve Worthington having a fantastic run went past to finish 3rd and Harry ended up 4th.

June 17th - Julie Wins 70.3 UK! and breaks another course record.

Julie was delighted to win her second 70.3 of the year down in Wimbleball in England, despite having a few hiccups along the way. It is reknowned for being one of the hardest 70.3 courses in the world with and extremely tough and hilly bike course, and a hilly mixed terrain run. Click here to read more.

June 10th - Julie wins British Nationals

This weekend was the 2nd of the Corus British Elite triathlon races in Tredegar Wales. It was also the elite British national championships. Julie had decided just recently to make an appearance there as good preparation for the UK 70.3 for next weekend. It was also to be her first drafting race since July last year....so a bit of a shock to system. However after pre riding the course on Friday she immediately new it was a good decision to race as she was pretty confident the bike course was made for her. It was hilly, had some very fast tight and technical turns and some fast descents.

On to the race - Julie had an OK swim, leading out for a bit and then just settling in the front group. It was then quickly into Transition and off out on to the first of 10 laps, hitting the hill within about 300m. By the top of the first hill Julie had caught the front 2 and then proceeded to fly down the hill. By the time the reached the hill again on lap 2 she already had a 20 sec lead. She proceed to put time into the rest of the field and entered transition two with about a 3min 30 lead. Julie has been running well in training, and without the flying Dillo (Michelle Dillon) in the race, she was pretty confident that she would hold on for the win. Andrea Whitcombe did however close her lead down gradually, but Julie went on to cross the line just under a minute a head of Whitcombe in 2nd, and Jeanne Collogne (FRA) in 3rd. Rosie Clarke continued her good run of form finishing 4th (3rd Brit), with Vanessa Raw in 5th who is just back from injury.

Needless to say Julie was very happy with the another win, and of course her first British national title. Next up for Julie is the UK 70.3 in Wimbleball, Exmoor. Julie recced the course briefly last week and expects is to be as tough, if not tougher than St Croix....probably minus the heat! A special thank you to Chris Volley, the coach at the high performance center in Bath. He has always been really supportive of Julie, and continues to help and advise her whenever possible. Thanks Vols

Harry and Pete raced their first European race of the season in Cyprus last weekend. The event played host to a number of top athletes in hot and humid conditions. The 1500m swim saw Harry exit 1st and Pete closely behind in 4th. A large front pack formed on the bike, but unfortunately the first 5k saw Pete come off after being clipped from behind by a rider who had just caught the front pack. Harry remained in this group for the Bike and after losing 20 seconds in T2 ran a strong 31.30 to come in 11th, just over one minute down on winner Charles Rusterholz.

After returning early Thursday they both headed to Scotland for the first Corus Race, a sprint distance event at Strathclyde Country Park. Unfortunately Harry came down ill the day before the race but still performed OK to come in 14th. Pete had a bit of a shocker and jogged in. The next race is the Normandy champs in France this weekend.

June 10th - Harry finishes 10th at British Nationals

Harry was 10th overall and 6th Brit at the British Triathlon Championships in Bryn Bach Park.

May 17th - Harry and Julie Swim videos

Check out some swim footage from our first Driven to Tri Swim Weekend. The videos are of Julie and Harry. While they probably don't have a perfect stroke, they must be doing something right! Check it out on YouTube

Harry Video
Julie Video

May 15th - Harry and Pete Race update

Harry and Pete travelled the short distance to Tiverton on Sunday to take part in the Exeter Triathlon. The pool based event was held over 400m/20k/5k in what proved to be atrocious conditions. Swimming next to each other both left they pool in around 4.30 and headed out onto the bike where caution was the name of the game. On a flat bike course there was no separating them and they led into T2 along with Total Fitness athlete Rich Brady. The run leg was no different with Pete and Harry running side by side for around 4950m before Harry proved to be the faster sprinter to win by a second!

Harry and Pete now head to Cyprus for the first ITU race of the summer before flying to Scotland for the Corus Elite Series on the 27th of May.

May 6th - Successful weekend for 'Driven to Tri 'Athletes

Julie Wins St. Croix 70.3! Julie took control from the gun and never looked back. She lead the swim coming out about 3 mins up on the rest of the girls who pretty much swam all together. Out on to the bike she capitalized on her lead and started out on the run with a 7 min lead. In doing so she broke the course records for both the swim and the bike. Out on to the run Julie hung tough in the heat and and finished again in a course record. Catriona Morrison also of GBR came in second, with Sam Mcglone (2006 70.3 world champ) in third.

Driven to Tri Coaches Peter Freedman and Harry Wiltshire opened their domestic Triathlon season at Concept Sport’s Dorchester triathlon on Sunday. Competing over a 400m pool swim, 15mile bike and 4 mile run the aim was to develop some speed for the coming season during a relatively hard block of training.

In an event that always attracts a decent field, a late change to the starting times meant Harry and Pete were sent off in different waves, removing any chance of a head to head battle. Pete was off first and exited the water in around 4.40 before heading off on the rolling bike. Just after halfway he was caught by James Gillfillan whom he managed to hang onto until T2, where they headed out onto the run together. It soon became apparent that a big winter’s running under the guidance of Harry has had a positive effect and Pete came home 45 seconds ahead of James.

Harry set off 10 minutes later, exiting the water with a similar time to Pete and riding most of the 15 miles alongside Chris Rhodes. Coming into T2 together, Harry briefly decided to have an argument with a cricket net on the Astroturf which brought himself and his bike tumbling to the ground! Fortunately the only damaged was a bloodied toe and Harry soon passed Chris with a solid run.

The results showed Pete in 1st place and Harry in 3rd with the splits indicating Pete’s running has definitely come on under Driven to Tri coach Harry Wiltshire. The return match is this weekend at the Exeter triathlon where Pete definitely won’t have it all his own way! Many thanks to Roger at Concept Sport for putting on a great race as usual, if you’re a novice triathlete the Fastwitch series is a great place to start."

May 4th - Harry and Pete race this weekend

Pete and Harry will kick off their U.K race season this weekend with the Dorchester Triathlon, they will then do a block of racing over consecutive weekends. Exeter, Cyprus, Strathclyde, Normandy and the National Olympic Champs in Wales. We will keep posted with results but look forward to catching up with people out at the races. If your going to be at any of the events please come and say hi.

April 2007 - Another top 3 for Julie

Julie came 3rd yesterday in the prestigious St Anthony’s non-drafting Triathlon in St Petersburg Florida. After an average swim, where she came out in 3rd (1min20 down on Sara McClarty). Out on the bike she soon caught up and took the lead after about 5 miles into the bike. She then lead throughout the rest of the bike and posted the fastest bike split and picking up the $1000 bike prime. On the run Julie felt strong but not super fast and just tried to get into a good rhythm and hold on. Haskins passed her at about mile 2, and then the FLYING Michelle Dillon just at the turn around. Michelle went on to win the race, with Sarah in second in a sprint finish, and Julie came home in a respectable 3rd.

Full results and splits can be seen here: http://www.altavistasports.com/results/2007results/stanthonystriathlon042907.html

On a personal note, while she was (as always) disappointed not to hold on to 1st or 2nd, she was really happy to see Michelle back to her usual best. Michelle has had a really tough last 6 months where she slipped a disk in her back are was almost forced into retirement. After 3 months of total rest she decided to get back into it, and is now looking stronger than ever. SO congrats to Dillo. For anyone struggling with serious injury she will be a true inspiration. To read more on Michelle go to www.michelledillon.co.uk

Julie now heads to St Croix for the 70.3 (or half ironman). It will be a lot hotter out there, and is obviously 2'ce the distance. So it will be interesting to see how Julie performs. Check back next weekend for results.

April 22nd - First Driven to Tri Swim Camp a success

The first Driven to Tri Swim Weekend held in Bath on the 21st and 22nd of April proved a massive success. Thank's to all those who came along and congratulations on the improvements you each made with your strokes and open water skills.

Check back in the next few days for underwater video footage of Harry and Julie doing their 100m time trials.

In the mean time you can check out these Utube links of the pros in action.

• Grant Hackett
• Ian Thorpe
• World Open Water Champs 2007

If you would like regular updates on our future camps and training days please send us your details through the contact form and we will add you to our mailing list.

March 28th Harry Wins Asian Aquathlon Champs

Harry won the Asian Aquathlon Champs in Mukdaha on the Thailand Laos border on Friday. He then raced the ITU points race on the Sunday finishing 8th in tempratures above 35 degrees. Harry will race an Olympic distance race in Bangkok this weekend before returning to the U.K for the Driven to Tri Swim camp on the 21st and 22nd of April.

March 17th 2007 - Driven to Tri Swim Camp Date announced

Driven to Tri are running a Swim Specific training weekend on the 21st and 22nd of April at the University of Bath Performance Centre. The weekend, coached by Olympic athlete Julie Dibens and fellow elite triathletes Harry Wiltshire and Peter Freedman will offer athletes the chance to develop their swim technique and open water skills in time for the coming season. Read more on the triathlon camps page.

March 17th 2007 - Julie Dibens finishes Second at Xterra Saipan

Julie followed up her Guam race with another very strong performance in Saipan. Read more on tri247.com.

March 11th 2007 - Julie Dibens wins Xterra Guam

Julie was extremely pleased with the result at her first Xterra of the season. Read more on tri247.com.

February 25th 2007 - Swim camp coming soon

Following on from our Zoom triathlon training day we are planning to put on a swim specific weekend here in Bath sometime in April (weekend still to be confirmed). This will be a great opportunity to not only get some great underwater video footage, but also some good hard swimming in one of the country's top 50m facilities. If you are interested in attending please contact us through the contact page as spaces will be limited.

February 24th 2007 - ZOOM TRI Training day a success

Our first official Training day was held yesterday at the excellent facilities here at the University of Bath. Pete, Julie and Mike worked with 10 athletes from Zoom Tri in Bournemouth. It was a jam packed day with a lot of good stuff to getting covered in a relatively short period of time. It was all helped by the light hearted banter which was going on amongst some of the Zoom Tri gang. One of the highlights of the day had to be seeing Sarah, a thoroughly inspiring 60 year old female who is going back to Olympic distance racing after a brief stint at Ironman, leaping and jumping on her bike with finesse in our transition session (would put most World Cup females to shame!).

January 31st 2007 - Lanzarote Training Camp

Lanzarote played host to the first Driven to Tri warm weather camp of 2007. The weather was excellent and we were pleasantly surprised to find that many of the roads had been recently repaved. This made our goal of upping the cycling miles a pleasure. Some of the team had the intention of rivaling the infamous ‘epic camps’ and for them most days saw 5 hours in the saddle combined with some shorter swim and run sessions.

The training camp tied in with the annual Lanzarote Duathlon, which saw Julie take 1st place with a strong second run and Harry finish 8th in a field stacked with some of the World’s top Duathletes. Full results are available here

January 10th 2007 - Lanzarote Training Camp

The Driven to Tri coaches are taking a small group of athletes to Lanzarote between the 18th and 25th of January for the inaugural Driven to Tri warm weather camp. A full report will follow on their return.

January 9th 2007 - Poole Park 10k

The annual Boxing Day race at Poole Park turned out to be a high quality running race with three athletes comfortably dipping below the 31 minute mark. Harry ran solidly putting in a 31.57 to finish 5th. With another few months running this time should start to come down as the triathlon season approaches.

January 8th 2007 - An Evening with Kelly and Harry

On Monday 8th January Harry took part in a Question and Answer session at Loughborough University. Harry was part of a panel of 5 athletes who fielded questions from over 100 of Britain’s most talented youngsters between the ages of 13 and 17. The evening was part of the Youth Sports Trust National Orientation Camp. The camp offered the chance for youngsters from 5 different Olympic sports to find out what life as a fulltime athlete is like and to question athletes at different stages along the performance pathway.

Also on the panel were Dame Kelly Holmes along with Olympic Silver medallist in the Atlanta women’s quad Miriam Batten, Junior World Champion track cyclist Anna Blyth and top sailor Giles Scott.

January 7th 2007 - South West Cross Country

Pete and Harry made their 2007 cross country debut at the South West Championships held at Bicton in Devon. In a decent quality field led home by GB international Rob Whalley, both ran strongly if not spectacularly, with Harry coming home first finisher for Dorset and Pete Devon’s 6th counter, placing them 15th and 16th. In the past four races the boys have not been more than 15 seconds apart, showing that 16 weeks of consistent run training is paying off!

December 17th 2007 - Cornwall Cross Country Championships

Harry and Pete continued there winter run miles this weekend recording respective third and fourth place finishes at the Cornwall Cross Country Championships in Newquay on Saturday. Harry had taken fifth place at December’s very windy Boscombe 5k race less than 24 hours before hand. The next outing is likely to be the around the lakes 10k in Poole Park on Boxing Day.

December 2006: Westward League Cross Country

On a wet and windy day, Pete and Harry traveled to Exeter for the third round of the Westward League Cross Country. On a tough, muddy 4 lap course, both toughed it out after a long weeks training, with Harry finishing 8th and Pete 10th. The week before Harry had traveled home to race in the Boscombe 5K and 10k races, on Friday and Sunday respectively, finishing third in both.

November 2006: Abi 9th and World Long Distance Champs

"News from Down Under ... well the race didn't go quite according to plan!

My swim was not up to my usual standard and unfortunately i came out of the water 4 minutes down on my expected time. Out onto the bike i tried not to panic and just got my head down and worked as hard as i could managing to claw back a few of the better swimmers. By lap 3 of the 4 lap course i finally felt as if i was getting in to some sort of rhythm. Temperatures were soaring (80 degrees plus) as i came in off the bike and i suffered in the heat on the run not racing to my full potential.

Not a great day at the office for me but i am proud to say i finished in one piece and just inside the top 10! I try to take the positives away from a bad race and i know i learnt a lot just going the distance .... bring on 2007 Congratulations of course go to Bella, World Long Distance Champ."

November 2006: Cornish Marathon

Pete and Harry took 5th and 6th place in the Cornish Marathon in a time of 2.58.00. The Boys were using their marathon debut as a long training run, but couldn’t resist the temptation to push on for the last couple of miles to ensure they sneaked inside the three hour mark. They ran through half way in 1.33 then came home in 1.25 over the hilly Bodmin Moor course. The marathon is part of a pre Christmas run focus that will boost aerobic fitness and give Pete and Harry the necessary strength to run fast off the bike come next season.