Marking 100 days to go until Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds

To celebrate 100 days to go until the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds comes to the city, British Triathlon and Leeds City Council have launched a new ‘GO TRI’ event for local people of all abilities to get a taste of triathlon in Roundhay Park.

The event, which was launched by London 2012 Olympic triathlete, Lucy Hall, and Cllr Roger Harington today at Armley Leisure Centre, will consist of a fun, mini triathlon course with a 200m swim, 10km bike and 2.5km run, and will take place on Saturday 11th June - a day before the world’s best triathletes compete in the city.

Entry is just £10 and participants can sign up to the GO TRI event at http://leeds.triathlon.org. To help participants prepare for the event, four unique activity hubs will be created in the coming months in Armley, Fearnville, Middleton and at the Universities. More details on these sessions will be announced shortly.

The event is part of British Triathlon and Leeds City Council’s wider ‘Tri Something New’ programme, delivering a legacy for triathlon within the city, encouraging people in Leeds to get active in 2016.

As part of the ‘Tri Something New’ programme, a series of events will be hosted by the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds on Saturday 11^th June including: a Sports Festival, British Youth & Junior Aquathlon Championships (swim and run), Tri Star Performance Triathlon for the Yorkshire stars of the future, and the Triathlon England - National Aquathlon Championships.

The much-anticipated Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds, which forms part of the prestigious ITU World Triathlon Series, will see the world’s finest triathletes including local heroes Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee and over 5,000 amateurs take to the streets of Leeds on Sunday 12 June.

Jenny Vincent, Triathlon Engagement Project Manager for the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds, said: “Launching our GO TRI event today in Armley is really exciting providing a great opportunity for the local community to ‘Tri Something New’ and get active. Over the coming months we will be confirming a host of swim, cycle and run sessions locally, that will aim to maximise the excitement and legacy of the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds.”

Leader of Leeds City Council, Councillor Judith Blake, added: “Now we have reached 100 days to go before the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds the anticipation level for the event is really starting to grow. We are delighted the exciting programme of events and activities taking place in Roundhay Park on the Saturday have now been revealed, which will hopefully attract families and locals to sample triathlon as a taster to the main event the following day. The whole weekend promises to be a fantastic occasion showcasing Leeds to the world, so we are counting down the days to June.”

For more information, and to enter the GO TRI event in Leeds, visit: http://leeds.triathlon.org.

For the latest information on the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds, which is part of UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded #EveryRoadtoRio events series, and to enter any of the events hosted on Saturday 11 June visit: www.leeds.triathlon.org.

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For more information please contact Christian Dente or Rebecca Armstrong on 0113 8800 444 or email Christian.dente@aberfield.com or Rebecca.armstrong@aberfield.com

Notes to editors

About GO TRI

GO TRI is a fun way to access triathlon for the first time powered by Triathlon England and British Triathlon. Join in swim, cycle or run training sessions or take part in your very first triathlon event. Both GO TRI training and events are available locally, reasonably priced, with manageable distances which have been purpose-designed for beginners.

About British Triathlon

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 sport with talented world class athletes, coaches and support staff, focused around delivering world-class events and medal winning performances. Visit www.britishtriathlon.org for more information.

Visit www.britishtriathlonmedia.org for downloadable image galleries, detailed athlete profiles, results, stats and information.

About Leeds City Council

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. This can be seen in the success of the 2014 Tour de France Grand Départ and the Rugby World Cup 2015, building towards our ambition to become European Capital of Culture 2023. The council works in partnership with the city’s three universities, national governing bodies and key stakeholders to develop sport from grassroots to elite level. Visit www.leeds.gov.uk for more information.

About Lagardère Sports

Lagardère Sports is one of the world's leading sports and entertainment agencies and forms part of Lagardère Sports & Entertainment. The events division of Lagardère Sports specialises in the promotion, marketing, organisation and delivery of televised events. Its business in the UK includes the delivery of mass participation endurance sports (triathlon and cycling) for elite and lifestyle participants. Events include the Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds and Velothon Wales.

About the International Triathlon Union (ITU)

The International Triathlon Union is the world governing body for the Olympic sport of Triathlon and all related MultiSport disciplines including Duathlon, Aquathlon, CrossTriathlon and Winter Triathlon.

ITU was founded in 1989 at the first ITU Congress in Avignon, France. It has maintained its headquarters in Vancouver, Canada since then and also has offices in Lausanne, Switzerland and Madrid,Spain. It now has over 167 affiliated National Federations on five continents and is the youngest International Federation in the Olympic Games. Triathlon was awarded Olympic Games status in 1994 and made its Olympic debut in Sydney 2000.

Triathlon is also featured in the Asian Games, Pan American Games and Commonwealth Games. Paratriathlon was accepted into the Paralympic Games in2010 and will make its Paralympic debut in Rio 2016. 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. For more information, visit: www.triathlon.org

About UK Sport

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.

Columbia Threadneedle World Triathlon Leeds is part of UK Sport’s #EveryRoadtoRio events series, which will feature over 30 world class sports events the length and breadth of the UK, with over 900,000 tickets available to the British public to support their athletes.

This ambitious National Lottery funded programme will support British athletes’ preparation and qualification for Rio 2016, with up to 95 direct and over 300 indirect qualification spots available, while generating economic impact for host cities and regions of over £37 million.

Throughout the #EveryRoadtoRio series UK Sport will be promoting exclusive ticket offers, opportunities to meet the athletes and get privileged behind the scenes access to events. Sign up now at www.uksport.gov.uk/events

About Columbia Threadneedle Investments

Columbia Thread needle 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 £320 billion ¹ 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 has since become Global Financial Services Partner.www.columbiathreadneedle.com

All figures as at 31 December 2015. Columbia Threadneedle Investments is the global brand name of the Columbia and Threadneedle group of companies.

¹ Source: Ameriprise Financial Q4 2015 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.

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 www.wts.triathlon.org/ColumbiaThreadneedleRankings. Engage with the conversation on social media using the hashtag #CTrankings, or follow @CTinvest_Tri