if you look at the run times from auckland juniors i posted above, his run time was 16:27, which was very average. he has made major improvements in his running.

Yes he was sometimes fairly good, but nothing special run wise, not when comparing him to the top juniors. For someone built like a pure biker he has made amazing progress. There are other young athletes that also race against the best, some have had great results too but most were already great runners right through their junior careers. Coninx, Sheldon, Birtwhistle etc.

If I'm Richard I STFU and thank them for my check. Sorry FB - "cheque".

Mostly taking the piss with FB. Out of FB? On FB? How does one use that expression?

No, they call him "Vargs" ... Even the lady in his favourite café doesn't call him Richard! Last year, I spent a couple of hours with Vargs, the Brownlees and others from the Leeds group (and Richard's fiancée Magdalena) and I can assure you there are genuinely all friends and the overall impression one gets is that here are a bunch of intelligent young people enjoying not having to work for a living!

I heard "Vargs" ... Another of the Leeds squad is Mark Buckingham, and he is known as Bucko ... so don't read too much into it.

If anyone is interested, you can check out the Leeds system:

http://www.leedstriathloncentre.info/squads

For me, the most interesting thing about all this is that the performance squad have no bike coaching,

and it would appear that they're doing just fine without it too:)

Alright, alright, enough speculating on what those guys did, didn't do or should have done; let's start speculating about this weekend!

As is stands, Mario Mola leads Jonny B the WTS Rankings by 235 points; it's a solid lead but with extra points available for the Grand Final, it's not unassailable by any means. The points awarded for the top 5 placings are 1200, 1110, 1027, 950 and 879 so if Mola finishes 3rd or better then he can't be caught, but if someone other than the Brownlees gets themselves into the mix up there then it could be all to play for! I think it's time to fire up the "Should Alistair let Jonny win" debate again...

The race for the women's title is even closer with Flora Duffy leading Gwen in the overall rankings by a meagre 166 points; if Gwen wins (and let's be honest, she probably will) then second place is still good enough for Duffy to hold on to top spot for the series but that is far from a certainty.

I, for one, am very excited; can't wait for the action at the weekend!

I think Ben Dijkstra has thus far shown he is a better triathlete but Alex Yee is ludicrously fast...

You are absolutely spot on with Georgia Taylor-Brown. In 2013, she was runner up at the World Juniors, she had been picked to go to the world cross-country championships and I really thought she could be the next big thing in women's triathlon. But then she hurt her foot, and eventually had an operation in autumn 2014 but seems to have spent two years rehabbing. She hasn't done many races but swum and biked extremely well in them but as yet, has not regained her brilliant running form (she trains with the Brownlees and Vicky, Non etc in Leeds).

I do get the impression that the Leeds system, with its 7 day a week training with immense cycling volumes, is primarily Alistair's own system with tweaks from the run and swim coaches (and conditioning coaches. Would be interesting to know if that really is the case and whether it will endure once the Brownlees move on.

Alright, alright, enough speculating on what those guys did, didn't do or should have done; let's start speculating about this weekend!

As is stands, Mario Mola leads Jonny B the WTS Rankings by 235 points; it's a solid lead but with extra points available for the Grand Final, it's not unassailable by any means. The points awarded for the top 5 placings are 1200, 1110, 1027, 950 and 879 so if Mola finishes 3rd or better then he can't be caught, but if someone other than the Brownlees gets themselves into the mix up there then it could be all to play for! I think it's time to fire up the "Should Alistair let Jonny win" debate again...

The race for the women's title is even closer with Flora Duffy leading Gwen in the overall rankings by a meagre 166 points; if Gwen wins (and let's be honest, she probably will) then second place is still good enough for Duffy to hold on to top spot for the series but that is far from a certainty.

I, for one, am very excited; can't wait for the action at the weekend!

Looks like he just missed the 3rd pack and is losing ground.

what's the story with van egdom? looking at his race history, it looks like he has a du background:

http://www.triathlon.org/...1350/jorik_van_egdom

is he going to be a force with the big boys in the coming years?