Anticipation builds as ITU World Triathlon Series trophy leads the way in Leeds

One of the symbols of the ITU World Triathlon Series has gone on public display in Leeds today ahead of the much-anticipated Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds next month.

The Columbia Threadneedle Rankings Leader Trophy awarded to the leading male and female elite athlete after each event in the series is now on show in Civic Hall in Leeds as the build-up continues to the next race being held in the city on Sunday 12 June.

The distinctive gold-coloured trophy is in the shape of the iconic ‘tribe’ mark of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Triathlon Series, with the three marks representing each discipline of the sport: swim, bike and run.

The male and female trophies for 2016 are currently held by Columbia Threadneedle Rankings Leaders Mario Mola of Spain and Flora Duffy of Bermuda after four events out of nine, with both aiming to maintain their leads in order to be crowned world champions at the end of the series.

As well as being on display in the Civic Hall, the trophy will also appear at events and activities at schools, universities and community groups in Leeds in the run-up to the race weekend.

Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor Judith Blake said:

“It is fantastic to have the ranking leader’s trophy on show in Leeds for people to see and get excited about the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds which is now only three weeks away. I’m sure the trophy will attract a lot of attention and hopefully it will especially inspire our young people to want to be more active and possibly become the triathlon stars of tomorrow.”

Rupert Pybus, Global Head of Brand and Marketing at Columbia Threadneedle Investments, said:

“The Columbia Threadneedle Rankings Leader Trophy symbolises success at the highest levels of the sport. We hope that having the trophy in Leeds will inspire the future regional stars and everyone taking part in the forthcoming triathlon.”

The June 11-12 event will see the world’s finest triathletes and almost 6,000 amateurs take to the streets of Leeds on the same course on the same day for the first time.

The elite races are expected to feature homegrown stars Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee as well as Leeds-based duo Non Stanford and Vicky Holland, taking on their rivals from across the globe in the British athletes’ final event on home soil before the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

After a 1500-metre swim in Roundhay Park, the elite triathletes will take to their bikes and follow a 41.5-kilometre ride through Roundhay, Moortown, Meanwood, Weetwood, Headingley and Woodhouse before completing seven circuits of a city centre loop.

They will then transition on Millennium Square from bikes to running before covering 10-kilometres in four shorter laps culminating in a thrilling finish on the square. Both the men’s and women’s races will be broadcast live on BBC2 to watching audiences around the world.

For the latest information on the Columbia Threadneedle World Traithlon Leeds visit http://leeds.triathlon.org. For anyone interested in volunteering on the Sunday, visit http://leeds.triathlon.org/volunteer/

The Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds is a UK Sport National Lottery-funded #EveryRoadtoRio event being organised by British Triathlon, IRONMAN, Leeds City Council and the ITU.

Notes to editors

About Columbia Threadneedle Investments

Columbia Threadneedle Investments is a leading global asset management group that provides a broad range of actively managed investment strategies and solutions for individual, institutional and corporate clients around the world. With more than 2000 people including over 450 investment professionals based in North America, Europe and Asia, we manage £323 billion ¹ of assets across developed and emerging market equities, fixed income, asset allocation solutions and alternatives.

Columbia Threadneedle Investments started its successful relationship with the ITU World Series in 2013 and has since become Global Financial Services Partner. www.columbiathreadneedle.com

All figures as at 31 March 2016. Columbia Threadneedle Investments is the global brand name of the Columbia and Threadneedle group of companies.

¹Source: Ameriprise Financial Q1 2016 earnings release.

The Columbia Threadneedle Rankings

As a global asset manager Columbia Threadneedle Investments recognises the importance of being the best in the field, not just at home, but on a global basis. The Columbia Threadneedle Rankings are used to determine the best performing triathletes across the ITU World Triathlon Series.

The Columbia Threadneedle Rankings Leader Trophy is presented to the top male and female elite athlete at each ITU World Triathlon Series event. In 2016 the Columbia Threadneedle Rankings Leader will continue to wear the bespoke race markings and carry the colours of the Columbia Threadneedle Rankings logo on their bike rack in transition.

Launched in 2015, the Columbia Threadneedle Rankings Report identifies the trends and interesting statistics after each event throughout the season.

The official Columbia Threadneedle Rankings can be accessed at http://wts.triathlon.org/rankings. Engage with the conversation on social media using the hashtag #CTrankings, or follow @CTinvest_Tri.

British Triathlon is the governing body for the sport in Great Britain. It is responsible for raising the profile and delivering elite performance for Triathlon. Triathlon is a fast growing, dynamic and modern Olympic & Paralympic sport with talented world class athletes, coaches and support staff, focused around delivering world-class events and medal winning performances. www.britishtriathlon.org

Leeds City Council is the second-largest local authority in England with a population of around 776,000. Leeds has a very proud sporting heritage and we are committed to encouraging sport as a way of promoting the city and healthy lifestyles, as well as bringing world-class events, building towards our ambition to become European Capital of Culture 2023. www.leeds.gov.uk

UK Sport is the nation’s high performance sports agency responsible for the strategic investment of National Lottery and Exchequer funding into Olympic and Paralympic sports and bringing major sporting events to the UK. www.uksport.gov.uk/events

The ITU is the world governing body for the Olympic sport of triathlon and all related MultiSport disciplines. ITU is proudly committed to supporting the development of the sport worldwide through strong relationships with continental and national federations, working with its partners to offer a balanced sport development programme from grassroots to a high performance level. www.triathlon.org

A Wanda Sports Holdings company, IRONMAN operates a global portfolio of events that includes the IRONMAN^®Triathlon Series, the IRONMAN^® 70.3^® Triathlon Series, 5150™ Triathlon Series, Iron Girl^®, IRONKIDS^®, six of nine International Triathlon Union World Triathlon Series races, road cycling events including the UCI Velothon Majors Series, mountain bike races, premier marathons and other multisport races. The iconic IRONMAN^® Series of events is the largest participation sports platform in the world, with more than 260 events across 42 countries and over 680,000 participants annually. For more information, visit www.ironman.com.

ENDS

For media enquiries please contact:

Roger Boyde,

Leeds City Council press office,

Email: roger.boyde@leeds.gov.uk