And Brad Beven!

How did I miss Bevan ??? He's bouncing around on his beam bike on the velodrome and kicking ass. These guys are legendary. The cool thing is that Hellriegel is in the mix here. No one really knew him that well back then, but he was 6th at 1992 Muskoka ITU World's. They basically had everyone who was anyone in this field in Bordeaux It is also from the same era that Boardman, Rominger and Indurain were using the same velodrome for hour records in 93/94

OK....I thought this video of the Bordeaux velodrome tri would get some more interest, but it seems that thread about Jens' helmet is more interesting to the crowd around here...in the perrenial battle of gadgets vs. sport, I guess gadgets it is :-(

You should have posted part two of the video, with Bevan taking off for his 3k run barefooted, and then sprinting past Lessing and Allen with one lap to go. Now that was epic!

But really, all those big names in one place, the crowd cheering from start to finish, the big pool inside the velodrome... I don't think we'll ever see anything like that again. Although it does sound like something RedBull could do if triathlon was cooler.

Really really cool event. Totally awesome!

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2012: Norseman. I'm done.

I suspect with the short attention span of many, 28 minutes of racing was just too much time spent not training, but what a gas and their loss.

Swimming sure has changed in 22 years, there's some around here that swim faster AG and that beam bike bounces like a playground toy.
And we won't mention the aero affect of racing with a singlet and numbers hanging out like that.
Of course there should have been at least one DQ for failure to clip on helmet (I assume a modern rule).
And the Abibi Biqela ending was just great.
(you have to feel the pain for Mcarthy)

Tactics obviously won the race.
Can't say why, because that would give away the ending and that's worth watching.

The commentary ....extraordinaire!

Thanks, enjoyed that.

I would think this is a viable alternative for triathlon in the Olympics, no? Run heats at the opening of the games and then have the finals closing day?

to add on to my last comment, having this as the olympic format would legitimize the sport in some ways too. all distances would be assured to be accurate. in a closed scenario, it would be possible to accurately compare performances.

i've talked myself into it. make this happen, obama.

I think it is an "additional event' to add to the Olympics like they did in XC skiing sprints. I'd reduce the swim to 200m swim then 2000m bike and 400m run with multiple rounds. this would still be a 2 min swim, less than 3 min bike, and 70 second run, so around 6 minutes per round with transition. Still long enough that it is around 75% aerobic and only 25 percent anaerobic. Defintely would want to run the run barefoot in this. If you took 10 second to put on shoes, your game is over.

...and what's with the toweling down! Regardless give credit to the boys for handling themselves on the velodrome.

By the way, I would change the order to 200m swim-400m run-2000m bike...end the bike on a velodrome sprint finish. If you get lapped you are out.

Well we have road cycling and track cycling and we have pool swimming and open water swimming, so how about road triathlon and track triathlon!

Let's get Monty and Slowman to organize one of these at the LA velodrome!!!

Now you gave away the ending, (and he had a lap on them anyway)

That is so cool! Thanks for that! Three things:

1. When #6's saddle fell off (don't know his name).... that must have been painful.
2. This seems like it would be a much more spectator/television friendly format.
3. If a local facility was set up in a similar fashion, I would do a race every weekend and pay well to do so. Looks very fun and like one hell of a workout.

Swimming sure has changed in 22 years, there's some around here that swim faster AG and that beam bike bounces like a playground toy.//

No, swimming has not changed. Keep in mind that pool is about as slow as a pool can get. No gutters and super shallow. For Bevan to do a 4;30 there is a sub 4;20 anywhere else, probably better. I swam with those guys, including Lessing, and that swim does not reflect their true speed. I was surprised that the guys were not closer to Brad though, he just took it to them and turned a small swim advantage into a lap on the bike, then a lap on the run..Really great move on his part..

Wow, can't believe you're advocating a tri with a swim longer than the run!!! My kind of race:)

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"Anyone can be who they want to be IF they have the HUNGER and the DRIVE."

I think you ideally want all distances to be standard from other sports...so maybe 100m swim 400m run 1000m bike, or 200m swim, 800m run, 4000m bike.

Didier Volkaert was also the coach of LVL if I recall, working with Jan Olbrecht.

The toweling down, as I understand it from another discussion of this race, was a mandated 15 seconds in T1 to prevent a wet velodrome.
I think a race like this would be beyond awesome, but there aren't many velodromes where I think you could house a pool and a running track in the infield, are there?

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IG: idking90

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0T4bYUOAXk

I can't find the entire video of the one that was held in Paris. Another blast from the past with Miles Stewart, Ben Sanson (who is still racing I think)
and I'm pretty sure we saw PNF briefly.

As you correctly said, Benji is out of the water in 4.20 and he was a 15.01 1500SCM swimmer...these pools are slow.

I noticed that at Rev3 Rush. I'm not sure any of us swam under 3 min for 250m in a short course pool...but you could say Rush is kind of like a revival of this

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IG: idking90

Karen Smyers' explanation:
http://www.karensmyers.com/...y-days-of-triathlon/

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IG: idking90

Yes Didier was one of LVL'd first coaches. IF I recall correctly LVL raced the first ITU World's at Avignon and had a faster run than Mark Allen. Didier knew that, but most of the world did not know the engine they had on hand. I spent a week in 1990 training out of Didier's home in Menon Belgium. Long story, but I was just traveling and looking to do a race. Les MacDonald who we have grown to hate put me in touch with Didier and then when he heard I was coming to travel for a week in Belgium, he said something like, "Come stay at my house and I will show you half of Belgium from my training rides". It was a generous offer that I could not turn down, so I got off the plane at Brussels, took my bike out of a cardboard box, and road 120k to his place with all my gear for 2 weeks in Europe in a backpack. My tri gear consisted of biking shoes, goggles and running shoes and a helmet, so there was not a ton of stuff other than some clothes and running shoes in the backpack. Seems like a much simpler "under complicated" time in our sport and my life when all I needed was a wallet, a passport, a bike, helmet, bike shoes and goggles and running shoes to live and race!

Garret McCarthey get's the hero/hardman award for trying to ride it out and keep up with NO SADDLE!

In the the space of 48 hours 2 weeks ago, I saw the two most exciting triathlon races all year - the SSGP in Las Vegas at Interbike and then a day and a half later, I was making the race call at the eGames Super Sprint Triathlon that was part if the Centurion Canada cycling event in Blue Mtn. The latter had to be turned into a duathalon because of the weather but, it still provided some close, competitive and exciting action.

Couple the above with the what I saw when I watched the Hamburg World Cup and the national team relay triathlon sprint event on TV, and, those were the three greatest events I've seen this year in triathlon/multisport. Seriously. HUGE potential.

Triathlon really should have a look at nordic skiing and the evolution of events there. The FIS has been progressive with adding new events and in different formats that have really caught on.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

The crazy this is FIS the old guys in blue suits have exhibited more innovation than our "new sport". Actually we were doing more innovation with formats 20+ years ago....now we are locked in with tradition milking the sport on age group participation while in reality we can do a lot more by making big names out of the pros.

Maybe the pros with some innovative business skill can put on such a series for themselves bringing in TV, sponsors and paying fans rather than this Realstarky IMLP number7 crap. Why ask other people to pay you when you can pay yourself....you just need a pro on the verge of retirement to take this opportunity by the horns and create a revenue path