Over recent years ETU has established an annual event where the Presidents or their representatives from each National Federation in the region are invited to meet, to receive all the updates that are relevant to our sport, to hear from experts about event organisation, development, identifying talent and to hear up to date news on important matters within ETU; such as finance and calendar updates. It is also a great chance for them all to meet and discuss amongst themselves matters that are important to them as individuals and as representatives for the federations, to put questions, concerns and suggestions to ETU Board Members and of course for the all-important networking.
This year the Presidents’ Assembly, as it is known, was held in Loughborough, a university town in the centre of England that has a strong history of producing top athletes. So strong is the “Lufbra” pedigree that if the University had been a nation it would have been ahead of Jamaica in the Medals table at the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Invitations were sent out by ETU HQ to each and every Federation in the ETU Family and with Nirvana making sure everyone got safely to the venue, despite the snowfall and airport closures that threatened to disrupt the weekend.
ETU President, Renato Bertrandi was pleased with the turnout, “I was very happy to see so many Presidents and Secretaries General, or their representatives at the Assembly. I take this as a strong sign of interest and a desire to actively participate in our activities. It was an intense weekend with a programme of valuable presentations and many interesting discussions taking place outside the main body of the assembly. I was able to provide answers to many of the questions that were put to me and provide guidance and direction to our various sub-committees where more specific responses were needed. I would like to thank British Triathlon for being such welcoming hosts. Their contribution to the weekend was immense.”
The delegates arrived from afar on the Friday afternoon and evening with a few arriving very early on the Saturday. A welcoming cup of coffee in the purpose-built conference centre, Burleigh Court, which is on Campus, was all that was needed to get everyone ready for the morning session.
As host President, Ian Howard GBR, welcomed the delegates before ETU President Bertrandi provided everyone with a detailed and informative review of the 2014 season.
Alicia Garcia, ETU Treasurer provided welcome and good news about the ETU finances.
After mid-morning coffee, Bernard Saint-Jean FRA, with Yuval Hets ISR, provided a fascinating update on the Development Committee and how it was working with Federations to ensure continued progress for athletes, coaches, technical officials and federations.
From Turkey, Alp Iskin provided insight to the delegates to show how the ETU Development plan had helped athletes from Turkey.
The floor was then given to Dan Salcedo, BTF Performance, who delivered an excellent presentation about identifying talent. Drawing the delegates into the way that talent is not so much grown as born, we got to learn quite a bit about the Brownlee brothers and about other sporting talent.
Lunch was a brief break before an eye-opening presentation from Azer Makarramov, AZE, on the forthcoming Inaugural European Games. The video presentations and explanations he provided certainly sparked great interest amongst the delegates who now know how many athletes they can all take to the Games, which are due to take place in the summer.
ETU fully supports the development of athletes, coaches and technical officials and one area where full support is given is the development of youth and junior athletes. President Bertrandi spoke about the exciting Youth Festival, which will be a way to motivate our young athletes. With great vision, Renato is lloking to a celebration of our sport, spread over a weekend with the focus upon participation. There was animated discussion within the federations later about this exciting step forwards.
This weekend was also the opportunity for ETU President Renato Bertrandi to present cheques to the Federations whose junior athletes did so well in the European Cup Rankings. For the Elite the money goes directly to the winners. For the Juniors the team effort if rewarded by a sizable cheque being presented to the federation. This year it was France who took pole position, with Great Britain coming second and Germany in third. Great motivation then for 2015 !
In the absence of representatives from the Russian Federation Maryia Charkouskaya, Secretary General of the Belarus Triathlon Federation who took the delegates to the Black Sea resort and Winter Olympic city of Sochi, which is to be the venue for the 2015 European Cup Final. The venue has already been used the Russian National Championships and to Maryia’s presentation we had supporting and very positive words from EB Member, Krzysztof Piątkowski.
The 2015 ETU European Championships will take place in Geneva. The delegates were treated to another impressive presentation and naturally, when the break came, Patrick Schmid, President of the Swiss Federation was available for questions.
With an overview of the ETU Events Schedule for 2015 presented by Kathleen Smet, ETU Secretary General and with input from Denis Jaeger, ETU Vice-President about how the Executive Board reached its decisions on which race would feature in the calendar the scene was set for presentations by Jon Ridgeon and Jack Buckner, along with Helen Wyeth, all from British Triathlon, to explain the way that the impact of major events can be maximised and how along with ITU, British Triathlon had been developing a Coaching Framework for National Federations. It was during this presentation that it appeared detailed notes were being taken by many. Clearly Jack Buckner provided much for the National Federations to take home.
The weekend was not simply a series of PowerPoint Presentations. Considerable networking took place in the coffee, lunch and tea breaks. One area that is of considerable benefit to all Federations is the ready availability of race calendars. The Elite Athletes will have their racing year planned but those athletes seeking to gain valuable international experience, be they Parathletes, U23, Juniors, Youths or Age Groupers, are able to race in the many open events that are held around the region. In the Baltic Region there is a strong racing calendar and whilst the majority of events will not attract ETU points they offer good value for money events and of course, that great chance to race outside your own federation.
The presentations sparked discussion and with all the ETU Executive Board available to answer questions and to offer support, it has once again been a tremendously successful Assembly. To the developing Federations, ETU has a dedicated team available to help you, your athletes, your coaches and technical officials. To those federations who are very strong in our sport, don’t forget, ETU is still able to assist in many areas, including event management, competition rules updates, the Event Organisers’ Manual and other non-specific areas. Just ask and we will do whatever we can to assist.
All of the presentations were made available to the delegates who were provided with a tour of the campus and a visit to the new British Triathlon offices. From it very humble beginnings in a tiny office above the swimming pool at Dover Leisure Centre, to its journey north to Ashby-de-la-Zouch and now into its second set of offices on the Loughborough Campus, it was a great opportunity for the delegates to look back over the British history of triathlon and relate it to the growth of our sport in their countries.
