Thought Skipper was involved for Ali, must be covid related if it’s nothing else.

Interesting to see what Dan Biggles comes up with and some local interest for me with the Tanfields involved

If not 'for the win' then for an even bigger lead (after the minutes Brownlee will gain on the swim). Final quarter of the marathon will be a spectacle, if Oceanside and St George are anything to go by.
https://www.220triathlon.com/...-for-sub7-challenge/

I think for a fit Ali a 2:40 marathon would be relatively easy, you would think here if he’s in good shape and pushes a little mid 2:30s would still be easy enough with milking himself.

It’s going to be very interesting to see how much time Blu has to make up. If any of course. But he might have to run a sub 2:30 to even catch Ali, who may not even be running the at hard.

Yeah, Bigham is a huge asset on that team. Problem is he gets so damn aero that there won't be much to draft off.

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Agree, except there's no way that Bottrill hodge-podge will get anywhere close TTT. Interesting to see the pacers are (nearly) all British Isles based.
47+1+3:36 (@50kph) + 1 + 2:40 = 7:05 So for Sub7 (let alone beating Blummenfelt) Brownlee will have to set out to run sub 2:35, unless the TTT achieves >50kph (which I expect they aspire to - see Mallory Park video and Skipper commentary).
I presume that his swim pacer (or one of them) will be Brownlee junior. Maybe Richard Varga who was #1 on both swim and bike in Texas a fortnight ago might be the other swimmer: they were habitual ITU FoFoP swimmers (eg London, Rio).

The linked 220 pre-WC interview with Astle gives the first name for Matthews' team: https://www.220triathlon.com/...nd-her-role-in-sub8/ (unsurprising given their friendship)
Spirig introduced her swim pacer on Insta (?)yesterday.

Is it me or does this look like an AB TTT win?

I think your bike speed is quite conservative, the Uk record for a solo 100 mile tt (admittedly wind and major road assisted) is 2:57:58 or 54.25kph can’t really see any reason a pack of 8 couldn’t at least meet or exceed that!

That gives a 3:20 bike, which allows for a 2:49 ish marathon, which I guess is why they are using so many of their helpers on the bike…

I presume they are using 1 and 1 on the swim and run but I guess there are a number of triathletes who could do both… also pretty sure Dan Bigham was an age group triathlete for a bit, not sure if he’s being roped in to pace 5k or so!

I was thinking 45mins for the swim including transition. 3:30 for the bike ish. Leaving them to “jog” a 2:40 for 6:55.

I thought all things considered they were not impossible times and actually quite reasonable.

As the previous poster said if they get the TTT down closer to 3hrs the marathon almost becomes easy in the grand scheme of things.

2:50 (56kph) - http://cdn1.cyclist.co.uk/...y-over-seven-minutes
The pacers will be used in two or even 3 teams, I expect. Three laps are 17km.
Here's more detail of some of Brownlee's TTT: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cdc1YSYplI2/

As I said: they'll aspire to average better than 50kph - was using that as a baseline. Might the women manage that: 10 mile TTT and repeat and . . .
The World-championships-mixed-relay-TTT https://www.procyclingstats.com/...elay-ttt/2021/result gives an idea of what 3 person teams can achieve.
And here's last year's 100 miles RTTC National Champs:
https://www.velouk.net/...mile-championship-2/
A few names on there (women) may feature on 5 June.

Just 2 racers for men and 2 for women? More shocking is why isnt Iden and Ryf in the mix

I was thinking about this. Maybe they'll have super aero guys rotating the front to break the wind, and then the tallest athlete on a road bike shielding Ali.

I wonder how much practice they'll do riding as a team? I'm guessing how well/smoothly they ride together probably plays just as much of an effect as who is on the team.

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Matt

You misspelled "obvious".

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

220 reported last year that this was offered to Ryf (who was in the earliest discussions on this, as was Frodeno) but she declined. In late 2020 (I think) Blummenfelt (at the time the 70.3 world best recorded time (Bahrain 2019)) was 'selected' as Brownlee's challenger.
https://www.220triathlon.com/...er-an-iron-distance/
Edit to add: Blummenfelt recce: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFSmdF72IfU

Maybe Polyanskiy :-)

a) he's probably not busy
b) it's probably not an "official WADA" event

I was thinking 45mins for the swim including transition. 3:30 for the bike ish. Leaving them to “jog” a 2:40 for 6:55.//

My thought given good weather conditions, that 45 or just under for a wetsuit swim should be possible without drilling it for Ali. I was more in line with a 3;35+ bike ride, 3;30 might put too much pressure on Ali for the run with having to get in good nutrition and all, then an easy 2;30 high for the 7 hour barrier.

But of course this is a race besides being a timed event, so I think each guy will be running 2;30 mids at the very least, and much faster for Blu as he will certainly be in a hole after the swim, and probably a bit bigger one after the bike. But his mantra will be Ali will blow up, Ali will blow up, and he will keep charging to the very end, where they both break 7 hours...


I was wondering if they both tied their bonus to breaking 7 hours, and the win is just icing for the event? It's how I would have done it if it was your choice.

At 36 minutes in Macca says Blummenfelt targeting 2:20 for the marathon. For Ali, Jonny Brownlee and Javier Gomez are in as pacers, Joe Skipper out.

https://podcasts.apple.com/...9963?i=1000560777235

Confirm Jonny and Gomez in as pacers for Ali??

Ah … British Time-Trialling … the noble art of chasing trucks up and down dual carriageways at six o’clock in the morning. The ‘100’ record is more like 3h13’ if you apply the rule that the finish needs to be within 10 miles of the start and the course isn’t allowed to use roads that are manifestly dangerous. Moderately dangerous is OK, but there are traffic counts and the police don’t like racing on e.g. the Highway to Hull. I had some terrifying moments on the Oxford bypass in the 1990s.

I agree with the conclusion though - they’ll go fast enough - but a closed motor-circuit is going to be slower than a CTT TT course.

Interesting for me is that Brownlee has chosen guys who have more TTT experience, Blu has solo guys. TTT is a different ask. Advantage Brownlee for me.

I agree, both teams have a lot of fire power with some of the top end UK domestic testers in Kristian’s team, however a good chunk of Ali’s team have a team pursuit background rather than being out and out testers (but having pro-level watts to play with) which must be hugely advantageous in a TTT scenario. I’m sure both Dan and Matt will have been modelling this and know what is needed and what is possible - and I really hope afterwards we get some insight into this from them because it will be fascinating to see the different approaches (or indeed how similar they were)… or at least it will be for a geek like me. The one advantage I do see for Kristian’s team is that there are people with long distance TT pedigree with Duggleby, Fennell and Hutchinson all having sub 3:20 100s to their name (more of the team possibly do too, but this is just off the top of my head) - Yes I know what the courses are like but even so they are incredibly impressive rides.

Spirig's and Matthews' teams announced:
https://www.sub7sub8.com/news/
https://www.tri247.com/...eams-matthews-spirig

For the ride, Matthews (coach Björn Geesmann) will be backed by testers from Independent Pedaler Nopinz, the dominant UK domestic cycling team, augmented by others at the top of the TT game in the British isles.

Jennifer George (Scottish champion x 2),
Kelly Murphy (also track IP Irish record holder)
Alex Clay (top 2 in TT UK over 25, 50 and 100 miles)
Other testers include Emily Meakin (AWOL O’Shea Cycling Team), Frankie Hall (Loughborough Lightning) and Leah Dixon (Bianchi Hunt Morvelo pro team and 2021 Welsh national road race champion).
Ruth Astle (5th at St George and multiple IM Champion 2021) will be supporting the cycling 180km, and maybe provide company for sections of the run.
India Lee (multiple 70.3 winner) is a faster swimmer than Matthews so expect she'll be the lead swimmer (maybe one of two, only 8 pacemakers have been announced by Matthews so far) and likely some run company duty too.

Spirig (coach Brett Sutton) seems to have a less cycling focused crew: the only TT cyclists are: Joanna Patterson, the current UK RTTC National 100 mile TT champion and Lizi Brooke (Wahoo Le Col recent TTs, and briefly gained a UK pro tri licence).
The rest are triathletes including:
Fellow Swiss Geneva-based Imogen Simmonds (multiple 70.3 winner) in cycling mode (assumed).
Also IRONMAN champion Els Visser (same coach as Spirig) and uber swimmer Lucy Buckingham (both beat Spirig last month in Challenge Gran Canaria)
Luisa Baptista, Brazilian, PTO #20 and breakthrough at Oceanside)
Amelia Watkinson (NZ) multiple wins and seconds in Australasia.

A German champion long distance swimmer: Angela Maurer.
Maja Neuenschwander is Sprig's contemporary: a Swiss Olympian (2x), national record holder and multiple national champion in the marathon - she'll be the run pacer.
Duathlete Melanie Maurer will be able to double up for cycle and run duties.


Maybe amend thread title to "Sub7/Sub8 . . ." Ian.

Seems like two completely different approaches from the women. Would have thought they’d both be largely focused on bike leg savings, but seems like Spirig at least is focusing on every discipline, more than either Kat or the men.

Everyone but Spirig has made choices that are… sort of boring?

I’m not being critical. How cool would it be though if they incorporated an element of fun to their choice of pacers. Sacrifice a few minutes.

I know McCormack has said many big words about seeking the limits of human capacity, etc., but let be serious - the rules are 100% arbitrary and that aspect won’t excite too many?

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"FTP is a bit 2015, don't you think?" - Gustav Iden

the rules are 100% arbitrary and that aspect won’t excite too many? //

Well count me in as one of the many, totally psyched for this. This is a chess match as compared to checkers for a regular ironman This is a really thinking athletes game, and so many variables to consider. Swim too fast and might hamper the take off on the 8TT. Then on the bike you have to think do I need a lead on the other person in the run, or head up ok? At least Ali's pacers could go as fast as needed, only question is how hard will it be for him to hang on(which he of course can), without pinching the back half of the run. I think he will want to preserve and add to his swim gap, so perhaps take 5 to 8 minutes into the run. He knows Blu can suffer, and if he does that 2;20 he is predicting, he can at least have a shot with a 2;28.


The women are all over the place, just wonder if some of those triathletes will be swimming, some of the bike, some or all of the run? Is it allowed to just pace a portion of an event, then jump back in later in the same or different one??