News

British Triathlon introduces new Performance Director, Brendan Purcell

Published:

On Wednesday 27 March, British Triathlon hosted a press conference to introduce new Performance Director, Brendan Purcell, and members of British Triathlon’s Performance staff.

Brendan Purcell began his role as Performance Director at the end of January 2013 alongside Ben Bright who was also appointed as British Triathlon’s new Head Coach.
 
During the press conference, Brendan took the opportunity to introduce himself and explain his role and plans for British Triathlon leading up to Rio 2016. 
 
“It’s a role for me that swings from support to facilitation to direction. Basically, for me the fundamental unit of a performance programme is the coach and athlete; I see the role that I have is to support the environment created around that coach and athlete, from support staff to management to logistics enabling performance to be the primary focus for those people,” said Brendan.
 


In addition to introducing Brendan, British Triathlon also announced its UK Sport Lottery funded World-Class Paratriathlon Squad, as the sport looks forward to its Paralympic debut in Rio 2016.

British Triathlon Paratriathlon Performance Manager, Jonathon Riall, was on hand to introduce the new squad. Jonathon said: “It’s the first time we have had a UK Sport Lottery funded programme and we are announcing 13 athletes, including four of the five world champions that we had in Auckland.
 
“In addition to the UK Sport funded programme, we’re also launching a talent programme, which is being supported through Triathlon England and Sport England. This programme will support a number of very talented athletes coming through from other sports who want to pursue a future in this Paralympic discipline.”

Brendan added: “For us to continue to build on what Jonathon is trying to achieve, I think this year a clear objective for us as a performance programme is to look at where integration can support that development further. What can we learn from the Olympic programme and transfer into the Paralympic programme, and vice-versa, what does the Paralympic programme use that can maybe enhance or challenge the Olympic programme to step-up and that is a key objective across both disciplines.”
 
Emma Deakin from the English Institute of Sport and a member of the British Triathlon’s support team also attended the conference and discussed her role in preparation for the season ahead. To see Emma’s comments, and to view the press conference in full, please visit our YouTube Channel.
 

Thanks to our Partners

Join Us

And enjoy insurance benefits, race licensing and more...