Through the lens

Check out the ‘2009 ITU World Championship Series’ image gallery on triathlon.org. I’d love me and my SLR to get such access to the elite triathlon world.

ITU World Champs

In case you didn’t see the latest round of the ITU World Championship series in Hyde Park… it’s on the iPlayer for another few days and longer on the download service.

Triathlon has received increased airtime of late, mostly in highlight form. It’s great that the BBC showed live coverage of the Hyde Park ITU event – the first outing on the 2012 Olympic tri course. And if you’re quick, the Mazda London Triathlon highlights program (screened yesterday) is also available on Channel 4’s catch-up service, 4oD (this writer actually features, very briefly, looking far too serious at the swim assembly!). Ironman is clearly the hardest distance to cover, but really Eurosport, how can you condense an 8-9-hour event (mens and womens) into 30mins plus ads? (see Ironman France coverage aired in July, if highlights can still be found).

Still, this really should mark the start of more coverage for the fastest growing sport. Which reminds me: I keep repeating this non-statistical stat – like I did about British Basketball in the mid- to late-90s – but sooner or later I’m going to need numbers and sources to back this up! Does anyone or any sports body actually measure such a thing? And if so, how?

Will Clarke’s blog

Oddly – when considering I read BBC Sport daily – this is the first I’ve seen of Will Clarke’s blog. Will is the British Champ from 2008 and most recently won the Mazda London Triathlon. I watched him compete on Eurosport recently: leading, his bike broke mid-ride, he hit the deck hard, fixed it, remounted, and still won the race.

Check out his blog. Will is in action in London’s Hyde Park for the World Championship Series this weekend – worth going down there if you live in town.