Feedback Session with Triathlon Ireland

Members, 
John Wallnutt and I met with Chris Kitchen, CEO and Scott Graham, Development and Media Officer of TI last Friday, 24^th January.   There were a number of topics brought to our attention by members in advance of the meeting and I would like to provide feedback to all members on those topics:

• National Series Race Selection
• Gender Ranking for National Series
• NS Points System for Mixed Club Championships
• Current competition format of National Series / National Championships
• Insurance
• Customer Service from Triathlon Ireland

1.         National Series Race Selection

TI operates a regional quota system to ensure that members in all 4 provinces have ‘local’ races.   The factors that drive the selection therefore include:

• Balance across the four provinces
• Balance across the three distances
• Number of race applicants per province, per distance
• Quality of TI Technical Official (TO) report from previous races hosted by the race organiser
• Maximum number of athletes that the race can take

There were only 43 applications by race organisers for NS races and the majority of these were for the sprint distance and there was a heavy overweighting from Munster. It is also common for applications to have limited capacity for athletes.

Therefore the case was compelling for TI to award one standard distance race to a UK commercial company (whose NS application and prior TO reports were exemplary) in Connaught. In another case a race was re-selected despite several areas for improvement being identified in the TO report last year. In this case TI will work with that organizer to materially improve standards in 2014.

We discussed the matter of Club organisers vs. commercial organisers. Athy and Athlone, both longstanding features on the NS Calendar, are run commercially.   In large part this is due to the infrastructure that these organisers bring.   It is that infrastructure that enables them to cater for large numbers of athletes.   It was noted that the local club in Athy earns important revenues as paid volunteers for the Athy races.

2.         Gender Ranking for NS

Piranha proposed that women and men be ranked against their own gender rather than have the current system of ranking for all TI members together. In 2013 the top two females were ranked 47^th and 56^th respectively.

TI mentioned that consideration is being given to the possibility of an independent NS Points calculator for men and women. This was acknowledged as having a lot of merit by the Piranha attendees.

3.         Mixed Club Championships:

Piranha presented two methodologies that had been created to remove the male bias that currently exists in the Mixed Club Championships. TI acknowledged that the second methodology would indeed be more fair.

It was also noted that if the independent NS Points calculator for men and women (mentioned above) was instituted, then the current model of the sum of the top 3 men and the top 3 women would be satisfactory.

4.         Current Competition Format:

TI wish to agree the structure of competitions in Ireland for 2015 and beyond as a matter of priority for the sport:

• TI CEO Chris Kitchen has recently returned from the European Triathlon Union (ETU) annual conference, where models of triathlon club leagues (Division 1, Division 2, etc.) were presented.   These are currently operating in the Netherlands and Belgium.
• CK is has also received feedback from individuals and clubs (including Piranha) that a form of Super Series for the top athletes in the country would also be welcome.
• Further consideration might be given to the possibility of ‘Draft Legal’ races being introduced.   These are very common in Spain and Italy for example.

CK mentioned that these options have to be considered in the context of ITU stipulated award categories of National Championships for each of the race distance categories.

CK is to establish a workshop early in the second quarter of 2014 at which each of these options will be assessed and from which a formal three-year race plan will be devised. Piranha will be invited to participate at this workshop.

5.         Insurance

TI mentioned a number of important improvements in the insurance cover for TI members this year:

• “Training and club competitions (activities allowed by TI)”.   The addition of the text in bold means that TI is the ultimate arbiter as to whether an activity is ‘sanctioned’ under the policy.
• Personal Accident – Medical Expenses: A new cover for medical expenses up to €1,500 (€100 excess) has been added to the policy.   This could cover treatment to road rash, sprains and limb breakage while training or in races.   There is a separate allowance for physio (up to €250, excess of €75).

For the avoidance of doubt, it is not a pre-request for coaching / training to have a qualified coach present, nor to have a minimum number of members present.   An individual out on a training cycle on his/her own would be covered by the insurance. Also, the insurance is ‘worldwide’ in its coverage.

It was noted that it is best practice to have member’s sign-in sheets for every event, albeit that this has its practical challenges. However, it was mentioned that it is most important that “potential members” (who are not yet members of the club / TI) participating in a trial swim / run / cycle session should definitely sign-in. Such potential members are covered for insurance purposes for a maximum of 3 trial training sessions.

6.         Customer Service

CK confirmed that TI is committed to providing an excellent service to its members, including prompt and complete responses to emails. CK said that he would welcome examples of incidents where service was perceived to be less than satisfactory from TI. These examples could be anonymised and would serve as a basis of coaching for the TI team. Any such examples should be sent to Bernard Hanratty at ber.hanratty@gmail.com or please contact Bernard on 087 231 5076.

Bernard Hanratty
National Series Co-ordinator
30^th January 2014