The University of Birmingham triathlon performance centre have announced a strong line up to go head to head against a number of teams from across Britain and four international development teams.
Based at the University of Birmingham’s £55 million Sport & Fitness club which opened in May 2017, the Triathlon Club was established in 1996 and has grown to be 110 athletes strong currently with a performance squad of 12.
Lucy Nell is a full time athlete at the centre and a member of the RAF elite athlete scheme, and said “There’s quite a lot of support here at Birmingham, we have access to strength and conditioning, coaches, physiologists, nutritionists and sport psychologists so there’s all of that staff in the performance centre, so if there’s anything we need they’re a great team we can tap into for knowledge and support.”
Unfortunately injury has ruled Lucy out of this year’s Accenture British Triathlon Mixed Relay Cup event but the centre will be represented by the quartet of Chris Silver, Rhiannon Middleton, Luke Pollard and Megan McDonald.
Chris Silver was part of the Team Wales triathlon mixed relay team at the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games in April and commented on the challenges of the mixed Relay format ”I think it’s just about really committing to every aspect and the small things really matter, like transitions, they take on an even greater importance and can really determine how the race pans out.”
Luke Pollard will be taking on mixed relay triathlon for the first time and spoke of how he’s adjusting training in the lead up to the race “I’m working a bit more on speed work and especially running off the bike hard to try and replicate what going to be happening in the race, lots of shorter sharper stuff!”
Louise Barron, Triathlon Head Coach at the University of Birmingham added “I don’t think anyone necessarily thinks of Birmingham when they think of a triathlon centre, so it’s great to get our name out there.
We have camps in from the academies, and other coaches that come and have a look at what we do and then they can talk with confidence about what we offer and the differences between us and other universities and performance centres. I think we do the individual attention really well here so it’s just about the athlete knowing what’s going to help them progress and reach their potential.”
The event on 4 August at the London ExCel arena is completely free to watch, with a course designed to create a brilliant spectator experience. Click here to find out more about the event and read the spectator guide.
