Triathlon Ireland eBulletin – 23/09/09

Welcome to our latest update. This time around, I’m taking the lazy option and providing you with an update straight from the TI office in Kilmacanogue. Each Friday, Amanda provides the board with some details of the work carried out that week. As you’ll see from the report below, a lot of effort goes in behind the scenes. This is a typical week at headquarters:

1.  Membership 2010:  Mary and I were testing the 2010 membership system yesterday and I’m pleased to say we’re almost ready to open it up. We just have a few updates to make and hopefully, it will open in the next week.

2.  Race admin: Still chasing outstanding money from races, and it is constantly trickling in, so we’re not going too badly on that front.

3. Race results: Now that we’ve had our last NS race for this year, I will be updating the NS rankings on Monday and we should have all NS rankings finalised by mid October. The jerseys which went to all age group winners each month have been a hit. A lot of the winners have contacted me when they received their jersey and thanked us for them. I think they were a great idea. Maybe next year, we should look into Eamonn’s idea of a gilet for the winners – something a bit different to this year.

4. Race equipment: The renting out of the Leinster race equipment hasn’t run as smoothly as we hoped. It turns out that the person who was checking the equipment after each race, wasn’t checking the equipment off an updated inventory I sent them in July, and an ocean buoy and water boom have gone
missing. We can’t track which race it was and of course, after asking the race organisers, they all say they returned all equipment. Jag is looking into how we handle this for next year.

5. Disciplinary hearing: We are now starting a disciplinary hearing between (text removed for confidentiality purposes) and (text removed for confidentiality purposes). At this stage, Jag has spoken to both parties and I’m preparing letters to go out to them both next week.

6. Junior Squad training camp: There is another camp at the end of October which will run into the next Talent ID day on 31st Oct in Dublin. After the Talent ID day, we will reconfirm the members of the Junior Squad.

7. Dev Squad training camp: The next training camp for the Dev Squad will be in Spain at the end of Nov/early Dec. At this stage, it looks like there will be about 10 athletes and 3 coaches/support staff going over.

8. Talent ID Day: Mary has been working on the Talent ID day in Dublin on 31st Oct and has everything under control.

9. Coaching conference: The coaching conference being held in Dublin is arranged and up on the website. After the first day, we had around 10 people signed up. From the enquiries Mary and I have had through emails/calls, we should have a good turnout.

10. Office furniture: and finally, Mary had a friend whose office is closing down and they have kindly given us 2 x 6ft tall cupboards and 2 smaller ones for free. They are really nice timber ones. We picked the cupboards up today and the office is looking a lot tidier with all the kit stored in them.

I didn’t get time to sit down with Mary this afternoon and get an update on what she’s been up to this week, but I think a lot of it has been spent on putting together profiles of our elite athletes. The profiles look really professional and are now at the printers being printed in colour on good quality paper. This will be great to use for prospective sponsorship etc.

Add in the constant stream of phone calls and correspondence and you have a busy week at HQ. Hopefully this helps to provide an insight into what has made triathlon Ireland’s fastest growing sport. Although we have make great strides this year at junior, elite and age group levels, the work will continue over the winter in preparation for your season in 2010. Training may be winding down but the work goes on.

Keep an eye on the website for details of how to book your place at the coaching conference and the long distance seminars planned for the new year.

Yours in Sport

Conal Heatley

Secretary, Triathlon Ireland

secretary@triathlonireland.com

Tel: 00353 83 374 6607