Jonny Brownlee celebrates one month to go until triathlon spectacular with city landmark takeover

Sent on behalf of British Triathlon:

Olympic silver medallist Jonny Brownlee has today unveiled triathlon inspired artwork which transforms the Town Hall, as the city counts down to the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds taking place on 10 and 11 June.

In less than a month’s time, the world’s best triathletes will arrive in Leeds to take on the best of Britain in the fourth leg of the ITU World Triathlon Series. Triathlon’s Rio Olympic heroes Alistair Brownlee, Jonny Brownlee and Vicky Holland adorn the city’s most iconic landmarks and are urging sport fans across the country to come out in their thousands to watch the elite action on Sunday 11 June.

In 2016, the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds hosted in excess of 80,000 passionate spectators across the weekend. The event, which starts in Roundhay Park, will see triathlete’s race through the streets of Leeds before heading to the blue carpet finish in Millennium Square. A small number of Millennium Square grandstand tickets remain, and fans need to act quickly to avoid missing out on the best seats in the city.

Tickets are priced at £30 for adults and £20 for under 18’s) (plus booking fee) and can be purchased online here. With the women’s race starting at 13:06 and the men’s at 15:45, ticket holders can expect well over four hours of live triathlon action.

Olympic silver medallist and runner-up in 2016, Jonny Brownlee can’t wait to get racing, commenting: “The Town Hall and rest of the city look amazing today and I can’t wait to get out there and race. After Yokohama everything is now focussed on being the best I can be in front of a home crowd. Last year, it was a wall of noise with the streets packed full of fans. As an athlete you can’t ask for more and I hope even more fans from across the country are inspired to travel to Leeds and cheer us on.”

Leader of Leeds City Council Councillor Judith Blake, said: “With just one month to go before the second Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon event to be held in Leeds, there is a real buzz of anticipation in the city. We are of course extremely proud that Leeds is both a home and a base to so many wonderful triathletes. It is fantastic therefore to see iconic Leeds Town Hall adorned with an array of triathlon inspired artwork, which features of course our very own Brownlee brothers. The atmosphere at last year’s event was simply sensational, and both athletes and spectators can once again be guaranteed of a very warm Yorkshire welcome next month.”

Rupert Pybus, Global Head of Brand and Marketing at Columbia Threadneedle Investments said: “We can’t wait to see Leeds full of amateur and professional triathletes achieving success, as well as enthusiastic supporters, for what will be a great weekend of triathlon sport next month.”

Opportunities are still available for athletes of all abilities to warm up the course on Sunday morning, with sprint and standard distance events offering a unique ‘point to point’ course. Entries start from £79 and be purchased via the event website, but hurry the closing date for entries is 17 May 2017: http://leeds.triathlon.org/enter_now

The 2017 Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds is supported by the National Lottery and organised by British Triathlon, in partnership with Leeds City Council, UK Sport and the ITU. For more information and to enter, please visit http://leeds.triathlon.org.

ENDS

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

British Triathlon Media Team on 01509 226 161

Tom Goldspink tomgoldspink@britishtriathlon.org 07795415452

Please visit http://www.britishtriathlon.org/media for British athlete profiles, free images* and general information about triathlon. *Please refer to image use restrictions in the gallery section of the site.

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 £369 billion¹ of assets across developed and emerging market equities, fixed income, asset allocation solutions and alternatives.

Our priority is the investment success of our clients. We aim to deliver the investment outcomes our clients expect through an investment approach that is team-based, performance-driven and risk-aware.

Columbia Threadneedle Investments started its successful relationship with the ITU World Series in 2013 and became Title Sponsor of the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds in 2016.

www.columbiathreadneedle.com

All figures as of 31 December 2016. ¹ Source: Ameriprise Financial Q4 2016 earnings release. Past performance is not a guide to future performance. The value of investments and any income is not guaranteed and can go down as well as up and may be affected by exchange rate fluctuations. This means that an investor may not get back the amount invested. This material is for information only and does not constitute an offer or solicitation of an order to buy or sell any securities or other financial instruments, or to provide investment advice or services. Columbia Threadneedle Investments is the global brand name of the Columbia and Threadneedle group of companies. 

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, Paratriathlon, Duathlon and Aquathlon in Great Britain. Triathlon is a fast growing, dynamic and modern Olympic and Paralympic sport with talented world class athletes, coaches and support staff, focused around delivering world-class success and inspiring participation.

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. Events already secured include the 2017 IAAF World Championships and ParaAthletics Championships, 2019 Netball World Cup and 2019 UCI Road World Championships. www.uksport.gov.uk/events

The ITU is the world governing body for the Olympic and Paralympic sport of triathlon and paratriathlon, 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