The Board of Directors of the USA Triathlon Mid-Atlantic Region today announced their approval of the 2005 Regional Championship events submitted by the USAT-MA Regional Championship Selection Committee.
In addition to the standard USAT Regional multi-sport categories, the Mid-Atlantic Region for the first time awarded two duathlon championships at both the short-course and long-course distances.
 

The Columbia Triathlon Association will be presenting a Swim Technique Clinic on January 22, 2005 at the Howard County Community College Pool in Columbia, Maryland.  This interactive instructional course will feature before and after video taping, rebuilding of your stroke using the most modern techniques available, and analysis of your stroke by triathlon coach Patti Harden and Greg Steinbach.  Two additional clinics are tentatively planned for February 12, 2005 and March 12, 2005.
 
For more information on the Swim Technique Clinic, please visit http://midmdtriclub.org.  You may register online at www.active.com.

If you missed the opportunity to sign up for Eagleman before registration closed, or if you are still looking for an early season challenge to jump start your Ironman training, never fear -- a new half Iron distance race is coming to the Mid-Atlantic Region this spring. The New Jersey Devilman Half Iron Triathlon will be held on Sunday May 15, 2005 at Shaws Mill Pond located just south of Millville, New Jersey. For those of you not quite ready for a half Iron distance race that early in the season, a sprint distance race will be held in conjunction with the event. Both races are part of the 2005 Greater Atlantic Multisport Series.
 
For more information on the New Jersey Devilman Triathlon Festival and the 2005 Greater Atlantic Multisport Series, please visit www.piranha-sports.com.
 

The science of speed combines two expert perspectives on seasonal triathlon testing, training, and racing and is sponsored by ELITE Testing (a division of ELITE Health & Wellness) (http://www.elitetesting.com), located in Philadelphia.
 
Well, it is officially “Winter”.  The first truly cold days and the holiday season have passed us by and are no longer on the horizon.  A big question on the minds of countless triathletes is “what training should I be doing right now?”  “Should I be training? Or just taking it easy?” The answers to those questions are equally countless. 

In her heavily anticipated Ironman debut, short-course specialist Michellie Jones (Carlsbad, CA) took top honors at Ironman Florida on November 6, 2004. Building on an early lead on the swim and the bike, Jones beat out former Ironman Florida champion Bella Comerford (Scotland) by six minutes. In the men’s race, Tom Evans (British Columbia) followed up his win at Ironman Canada this year with another victory in Florida. Evans edged out second place finisher Olivier Bernhard (Heiden, AR) by more than five minutes.
 
Donald Fink (Short Hills, NJ) was the top finisher from the Mid-Atlantic Region.

USA Triathlon sanctioned a total of 1,227 events, which included 1,542 races, in 2004. The number of races sanctioned is nearly double to what USAT sanctioned two years ago.
The number of races is higher than the number of events because some events (such as Wildflower or St. Anthony's) consist of several races. Of the 1,227 events sanctioned, 825 included short or sprint distance races and 191 were youth races.
Additionally, 332 of the races took place for the first time in 2004.
 

The Mid-Atlantic Monthly Web Site
http://www.midatlanticmonthly.com
 
USAT Mid-Atlantic Web Site
http://www.usat-ma.org
 
USA Triathlon Web Site
http://www.usatriathlon.org
 
Mid-Atlantic Region Rankings
http://www.lin-mark.com/usat_rank/index.asp
 
Mid-Atlantic Region Club Directory
http://www.lin-mark.com/usatclubsma.htm
 
World Triathlon Corporation (Ironman)
http://www.ironmanlive.com
 
Duathlon.com
http://www.duathlon.com