France in May

Training has been going very well with consistent training. James Elvery has joined Laurent and myself in Sète to help with preparations and to make a 'small' training group.
I raced in the French Grand Prix sprint triathlon in Dunkerque over the weekend, a fun race to start the European season. It was freezing as always in the North of France. I raced in the front group during the swim and bike. The run is always tough in Dunkerque; the footpaths and turns are not smooth and it's always windy. I had such a dry feeling in my mouth, probably from swallowing a lot of dirty water in the swim because the washing machine is an effect when the turning buoy is 150m from the start. I finished in 3rd behind Emma Jackson (Parthenay, AUS) and Barbara Riveros (Tri Val de Gray CHI). Poissy stood on the podium in 2nd for the team's classification.

CLASSEMENT FEMMES – ETAPE

1. Parthenay 16 pts
2. Poissy 28 pts
3. Poitiers 35 pts

CLASSEMENT FEMMES – GENERAL

1. Parthenay 30 pts
2. Poissy 24 pts
3. Poitiers 23 pts

NZ Olympic Triathlon Team named

As I head overseas, I made a short afternoon stop in Auckland to celebrate the naming of the Triathlon team which will represent NZ at this year's London Olympic Games.

tvnz.co.nz article
Kris Gemmell and Andrea Hewitt will headline the New Zealand Olympic triathlon team to London this year.
Gemmell booked his spot for London with a 7th place finish at the Sydney ITU World Champs Series on Saturday.
He will be joined in the men's race by two time Olympic medalist Bevan Docherty, who finished 12th in Sydney, and Ryan Sissons, who was selected despite crashing on his bike in the weekend and failing to finish the race.

World number two and big medal chance Hewitt was an automatic selection and will be joined in the women's race by Nicky Samuels, who finished 12th in Sydney, and New Zealand number two Kate McIlroy.
"We've got a real reputation in both men's and women's triathlon and they have made their mark internationally. Andrea is a real medal contender. I'm delighted to welcome them to our proud Olympic team," New Zealand Olympic Committee Secretary General and selector Kereyn Smith said.
Samuels and Sissons may have a slightly nervous wait however as New Zealand must finish inside the top 8 nations on the ITU Olympic rankings at the end of May for New Zealand to have 3 spots in either men's or women's races in London. In both cases New Zealand is comfortably inside the top 8 and has plans to contest key races in May to ensure they stay there.
"Andrea, Kate, Nicky, Kris, Bevan and Ryan are superb athletes and wonderful ambassadors for the sport and the country. They have come through a comprehensive selection process and are deserving of their places on the start line in London," Pedreschi said
"As selectors we were committed to ensuring a transparent, fair and rigorous process was agreed and implemented. That process was communicated to all athletes and coaches one year ago, with clear opportunities along the way to qualify for London, culminating in the Sydney race last weekend. We are confident this process has delivered six athletes who will represent New Zealand with pride and deliver outstanding results in London. That process has subsequently been ratified by the Tri NZ Board and the NZOC.
Debbie Tanner, who came 10th in Beijing and finished 20th in Sydney, seven places ahead of McIlroy, is probably the unluckiest athlete to miss out and Pedreschi passed on his commiseration's to her and the other athletes who missed selection.
"We would like to acknowledge those athletes who were not selected, and highlight that it was a very difficult decision. It is their calibre that demonstrates the depth and talent of triathletes in New Zealand."

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However Triathlon New Zealand confirmed that Tanner and Clark Ellice have been named as reserves in the event of injury or illness in the lead up to London, both would need ratification from the NZOC should they be called upon to race.
Triathlon made its first appearance on the Olympic programme in 2000 at Sydney. Our first triathlon medals were won in Athens where Hamish Carter and Docherty came home for gold and silver medals. Beijing saw a team of six athletes and a bronze medal from Docherty.

Bronze Sydney World Triathlon Series

Another podium to complete a great start to my 2012 season by running my way to another bronze medal after claiming bronze in Mooloolaba a few weeks back.

The day began with a wetsuit swim, 9th position out of the water and onto the bike in a large pack of athletes. I had one of my slowest bike-run transitions, so it took about 1k for me to make contact with the front runners of the race once I got my running rhythm. It is always hard at this time of the year to feel great at the start of the run. I have a lot of running km's in my legs but not so much of the fast stuff yet, so I was excited to be in the top 3 at the 5km mark half way through the run. Erin Densham AUS is in particularly good form for this time of year; I haven't seen that type of racing from her since 2007/2008. Helen Jenkins GBR was too strong on the final lap also. I wore the new Adidas Adizero Hagio, bright yellow shoes, which felt light and kinda bouncy because of it's soft sole. They were a good choice on this course with a lot of false flat running.
My highlight of this inner city Sydney course is racing in front of the Sydney opera House. In 2010, 2011 and now 2012 with great results SILVER, BRONZE, BRONZE, very pleased!
This first World Triathlon Series race doubled as the final qualification race for the New Zealand Olympic Triathlon Team. All other NZ women finished outside the Top 8 which was the automatic selection criteria. Now it is up to the selectors to choose the best team. Congratulations go to Kris Gemmell who qualified his spot on the NZ men's Olympic team with his 7th place.

Ready for Sydney

Training - check.
Taper - check.
Race equipment - check.
Number 1 - check.
Training is going well. Mooloolaba was a good preparation race 3 weeks ago, so I have nothing really to talk about except that this is the start of the WTS (World Triathlon Series).
The Sydney races are LIVE in NZ on SKY SPORT 2 Women at 9.30am / Men at 12.20pm. After finishing 2nd in the World last year, I will be wearing the number 1 here because the Yokohama round has been included to this year's series.

All the best to my Kiwi teammates who are vying for their Olympic Spot.
Let's go and race, oh it's an early start here in Sydney.

Andrea

Snow Farm Training Camp

Hi,
There is no better place for an altitude block in NZ than at the Snow Farm. Good accommodation, so many running trails and beautiful scenery.
I was there last year at the same time and wasn't ready to race and preferred to stick to training. But this year I planned to race in the Wanaka Contact Tri race. The 7pm start time was quite cool, a lot later than usual, so plenty of time to prepare with a run and swim beforehand. There was a good line up with Debbie Tanner and Soph Corbidge coming from Auckland and Rachel, Danne and Sarissa from the Netherlands. The 6 of us were the front bunch. Onto the run, we had a group of 4. I ran out the first km with Debs with Rachel 5 - 10sec back then made the final winning surge in the sprint finish against Rachel.
And an hour later Laurent won the "Doddsy International", in a fast race with Ryan Sissons 2nd and Tony Dodds 3rd.
The support for the event was huge! It was a criterium style race, great for the crowds which were so close to the action.
We spent all of January at the Snow Farm, put a lot of km's in the legs and got quite tired. We had a mixture of weather and then a few days of freezing weather where we woke up to snow up at the 1580m lodge.
Now it's back to Christchurch for some recovery time and sea level training.
Andrea

Triathlon's golden couple victorious in Wanaka