Denis
Spashett

Denis is our newly-elected club Chairman.

I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all a happy New Year and introduce myself as your chairman.

I have enjoyed supporting triathlon for the last eleven years, in various roles, at club and regional level.  At present I am also the secretary of the Eastern Region.   I have been a member of the regional committee for five years and was instrumental in starting the youth series.  The regional AGM will be on the 28^th January at 12noon at Saffron Waldron.  All members of the club are invited to attend.

I am looking forward to working with the new committee of Ipswich Triathlon Club and hope to develop further opportunities for all age groups and abilities.  The 2007 season looks like being as busy as ever with many races, such as Windsor, filling up already.  It is important to apply early for all races especially for those in the region as there are fewer places available.  The new committee is working hard to produce an interesting calendar for the coming season.  I hope you will be able to support the club activities by competing, marshalling or supporting the athletes.

Finally I would like to thank Nick Collinson for his hard work as chairman and hope I can follow on from his good practice.   Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions or ideas you have regarding the club activities.

Denis can be contacted at denis.spashett@talk21.com

Steve de Boltz

Steve de Boltz is our newly-elected men's captain.
Steve was seen out braving the wind & the rain at Hadleigh as a spectator following injury the week before at the cross-country.

Happy new year to everyone.

And can I start by thanking Laura Williams for our Christmas get together at the Greyhound, all those that went had a great evening. Also I must mention the true athletes that managed a run round Alton Water the following morning, obviously I drank more than my fair share of the beer kitty as I couldn’t run anywhere the next morning.

O.k. chaps let’s get the new years resolutions sorted:

1. Stop eating the horrible ones in the Quality street tin.
2. You know that gym membership your great Aunt got you for Christmas, maybe at least find out where it is.
3. Get the tyres on your bike dirty before the first race of the season.
4. Go spend that money from granny on some trick bits in 53-12.
5. Oh yeah and enter at least 1 race before the end of January.

That’s a start, nothing too serious but, it being a quiet month, I want mention/promote a regular training session organised by the club...

Swimming at Ipswich Girls School, Woolverstone

This is a great way to start a weekend.

If you wish you can do your own thing and work to your own training plan. Or if you would like something a bit more structured, our lifeguard Kat sets a session of drills which is good to try and complete before running out of time.

The pool is a 25m, six lanes wide and there isn’t a better, cleaner, clearer pool in Ipswich, which we have all to ourselves. It’s a good location if you want to cycle up, have a swim and then a ride afterwards. If you speak to any of the people who regularly attend they all sing the praises of the place.  Julia and Iain drive down from Thetford every week, Mike and Mary from Peasenhall, which must mean it’s well worth it.

Many pools will not let you wear fins during public swimming so it’s an ideal session to try out different training methods. Personally I find it most rewarding to have people around doing the same set as you, which pushes you that little bit harder. It is a mere £4 for an hour's swim which starts at 9am - we’re normally in the pool by then so you get a full hour.  If you need directions call me and I’ll guide you there: please give it a try.

To all that are racing during these cold winter months WELL DONE!

It’s not easy getting up and getting out there. In particular well done to those that are running in the cross country: it’s great to see so many club shirts at the events and a good way of getting to know fellow club members.

Here’s to a good 2007...

Steve can be contacted on 07795 564322 or stevedb@btsgroupuk.com

Susannah
Rosenberg

Susannah is concerned that there are lots of people that think that the training is only for fast folk and daren't turn up.
She encourages you to give it a try...

All adult members are welcome at the club training sessions on Thursdays at 7pm at Greshams.

We cater for a wide range of abilities, so don't worry if you're not fast - neither am I and I turn up most weeks. In the winter we have a mix of session types:

• Long run - the routes are all on road and vary from four to six miles.
  Faster runners (Dave Copland) run further, as they retrace the route at regular intervals past the back markers (me).
  This ensures that everyone is in regular contact and we all get back to the bar at the same time.
• Hill training - occasionally we teach the Valley Road hill a lesson.
  We are all within 100 metres of each other and some people (Dave C) do more repetitions than others (me).
• Drill session - once in a while we do strength, speed and fitness routines on the Greshams floodlit pitch

There is more variety in the summer with the lighter evenings enabling us to do duathlon training, more hills in the parks, and off-road routes.

For anyone still worried about the pace, at the moment I can peak at nine-minute miles in a race, so on a Thursday evening after a long day at work, the best I can manage is approximately 10 minute miles.

Please come wearing white or reflective clothing or vests.  If you don't have anything bright, there are a couple of club reflective vests available on the night.  We leave at 7pm promptly, so please arrive a few minutes early to allow time for hellos, signing the attendance sheet, stashing of car keys etc.

If you're not in the mood for a run, or it doesn't fit in with your training schedule, you are always welcome to meet for a bite to eat and/or a drink in the bar.  The training usually takes 45-60 minutes (depending on distance), so once we are back at Greshams, have had a few minutes of stretching and a shower, we'll be in the bar by 8:15 (usually earlier).

If you're not sure what we look like, ask the bar staff, who will point you in the right direction!

You can contact Susannah at Greshams. Susannah also frequents Alton Water on a regular basis.

John Gabriel

John Gabriel has triggered a number of initiatives for club members.
John is now making two generous turbo-training proposals...

Turbo training sessions

If there is sufficient interest, John Gabriel is willing to put on group turbo sessions over the winter. Subject to confirmation, these would be in Felixstowe on Wednesday evenings 7pm for 7.30pm prompt start. The first session - possibly January 10th - would be 'come & try it', to be followed by eight weeks of serious stuff.

Based on likely cost to the club for hire of hall, the cost to members would be around £3 per session. You would need to bring bike, turbo (if you have one - see below), cadence meter (preferable), heart rate monitor (preferable), towel and drink.

If this goes ahead, non-cycling runners could come along & use the hall if they wanted to, as there are some well lit routes around Felixstowe, especially on the prom, which are good for an intervals session.

But remember that this will only go ahead if there is sufficient interest so plese contact John Gabriel on 01394 278473 or at jgcoaching@btinternet.com to register your interest a.s.a.p.

Turbo training equipment

To support this initiative, the club will buy some CycleOps Mag Trainers which members will be able to borrow, bookable in advance.

Better still, Ed Page at 53-12 has agreed to offer these trainers to club members at the same discounted rate of £62.40 instead of the recommeded retail price of £75.00.
The discount won't come automatically - to take advantage of this offer you must clearly state that you are an Ipswich triathlon club.

See http://www.cycle-ops.com/p-115-mag.aspx (or browse via http://www.severnfitness.co.uk/shop/cyclopsindex.htm ) for specification.

Charlie Stannett

Two members of the club made it to world championship events in 2006 - Anne Fish (ITU) & Charlie Stannett (Ironman70.3).
Charlie - seen here in the rare position of actually over-taking somebody - risks the wrath of Mrs Stannett by setting a personal challenge...

2007 Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3 - Charlie's challenge

A bit late for a full race report - the 2006 event took place on 11th November - but most members probably know that I managed to qualify for a place for the 2006 Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3 held in Clearwater, Florida. 

I was ill most of the week leading up to the event, and was terrified at the prospect of my first sea-swim triathlon. There had been a storm just before we arrived, which meant that there were serious waves when we checked in for warm-up training!  In the event the sea was calm on race day and so too, relatively speaking, were my stomach, nose & head but, even so, I still took it very easily indeed.  In fact, so easily that I was last brit to finish. But, despite spending several minutes in T2 explaining the significance of the poppy I was wearing, I still managed a PB (personal best) for me over the 70.3 distance. I also managed a PB for dishing out polos at a WTC event - something like five packets worth...

As for my challenge...

There are two IM70.3 qualifier events attracting attention amongst club members this year - Antwerp Belgium and Wimbleball UK. On last count I reckon we were approaching something like a dozen or more members ITCHing for one of these two WTC-sanctioned events.  If you have entered, you will know that by doing well in your age group you can win a qualification slot for the 2007 Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3. Now, if I could qualify for the 2006 championships, I'm fairly sure that a number of our members could be serious contenders for slots in 2007.

So, to add just a little bit of extra spice, I am personally pledging £70-30 to the club member who does best in their age group at the 2007 Ford Ironman World Championship 70.3, provided they cross the finish line in club kit and beat my time. Which, given that I finished in 7:33:18, should be very easy. Very easy indeed.

The hard bit will be doing sufficiently well at Antwerp or Wimbleball to qualify... go for it!