HEALTH ENJOYMENT BELONGING ACHIEVEMENT RESPECT Triathlon Australia Annual Report 2012-2013 Triathlon Australia Annual Report 2012-2013 TRIATHLON AUSTRALIA LIMITED ABN 67 007 356 907 PO Box 13, Alexandria, NSW 1435 Level 2, 66 Wentworth Avenue, Surry Hills, NSW 2010 Telephone +61 2 8488 6200 Email [email protected] Website www.triathlon.org.au Photographs used in this report are courtesy of Delly Carr/ITU Media, Janos M Schmidt/ITU Media, Eyes Wide Open Images, Keith Hedgeland and Barter Photography. Principal Partner 2 | www.triathlon.org.au Triathlon Australia Annual Report 2012-2013 CONTENTS Strategic OVERVIEW 4 Patron’S Message 5 PRESIDENT’S REVIEW 8 CEO’S Report 10 Message FROM THE ASC 12 Triathlon AUSTRALIA STRUCTURE Board of Directors 14 Board Sub Committees 16 Staff Members 18 Australian International Representatives 18 Around the Nation figures and highlights 19 KEY RESULT AREAS 28 ORGANISATIONAL EXCELLENCE 29 Organisational Excellence Report 30 Key Performance Indicators 32 PARTICIPATION 34 Sport Development Grants 35 Opportunities for Athletes with a Disability 37 Age Group World Championships 39 Key Performance Indicators 40 MEMBERSHIP 42 Membership Growth 43 A Strong Value Proposition 44 Member Engagement 46 Key Performance Indicators 48 EVENTS 50 A Coordinated National Calendar 51 Ensuring the Existence of High Quality Competition 53 The Technical Program 53 Key Performance Indicators 54 HIGH PERFORMANCE 56 The Winning Edge 57 The National Talent Academy 59 2012 Elite Medal Performances 61 Key Performance Indicators 63 BRAND 65 Award and Recognition Framework 66 A National Brand Strategy 70 Key Performance Indicators 71 HONOUR BOARD 74 2012 ITU AGE GROUP WORLD 85 CHAMPIONSHIP TEAMS Partners AND SPONSORS 94 FINANCIAL Report 95 www.triathlon.org.au | 3 Triathlon Australia Annual Report 2012-2013 STRATEGIC OVERVIEW VISION To be the leading triathlon nation and grow the sport of Triathlon in Australia MISSION To ensure the existence of quality participation opportunities and pathways within the sport of Triathlon in Australia CORE BRAND VALUES HEALTH BELONGING ACHIEVEMENT RESPECT ENJOYMENT 4 | www.triathlon.org.au Triathlon Australia Annual Report 2012-2013 PATRON’S MESSAGE sport and I wish the athletes, Board members, staff rin Densham’s Bronze medal and volunteers of Triathlon Australia all the best for a Eat the London Olympic successful year ahead. Games heralded the start of a year of solid performances by Australia’s elite triathletes. Erin’s success was quickly PHIL COLES followed up by Aaron Royle Patron winning the Elite U23 race at the ITU World Championships Triathlon AUSTRALIA in Auckland. Throughout the year, it was particularly pleasing to see our younger triathletes rising to the challenge of their first experience in ITU World Triathlon Series and World Cup events. I recognise the increasingly competitive high performance programs conducted by many of our rival nations, and urge our high performance staff and coaches to make use of the professional development opportunities made available by the Australian Sports Commission to keep them “ahead of the game”. One aspect of athlete development which I urge coaches to take very seriously is the risk of athletes competing too frequently. With so many races to choose from each week, I realise the temptation to compete regularly is very real. However leading sports scientists are treating an increasing number of athletes who are burning out and becoming injured by competing too frequently. As patron, I was delighted to hear that Triathlon Australia was one of thirteen National Sporting Organisations to receive additional High Performance funding through the government’s Winning Edge investment principles. Congratulations to those who contributed to the preparation of triathlon’s Winning Edge submission. Although it was disappointing for the sport that a decision on the inclusion of the team relay at Rio de Janeiro was not confirmed by the IOC, the inclusion of Paratriathlon in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio provides a great opportunity for Australian paratriathletes to compete and win on the world stage. I am also pleased to observe the continual growth of the sport at a grassroots participation level. I am aware of the large number of “novice” triathlon events held around the country, and understand the value of good quality events in promoting lifelong participation in sport. I enjoy being patron of this contemporary, exciting www.triathlon.org.au | 5 Triathlon Australia Annual Report 2012-2013 6 | www.triathlon.org.au Triathlon Australia Annual Report 2012-2013 www.triathlon.org.au | 7 Triathlon Australia Annual Report 2012-2013 PRESIDENT’S REVIEW dinner in March 2013. It was a pleasure to celebrate hile it doesn’t seem like W the Olympic and World Championship efforts of our elite twelve months since we and age group athletes, including Erin Densham, Pete met on the Gold Coast and Jacobs, Aaron Royle, Bill Chaffey, Chris McCormack and I was elected as President Felicity Sheedy-Ryan. While Chris McCormack and Pete of Triathlon Australia, a Jacobs were unable to attend the event held on the review of our achievements Sunshine Coast, it was a pleasure to present awards as an association over that to Pete Jacobs in Melbourne during the Melbourne time reflects the hard work Ironman celebrations. of the numerous people involved in both an official While there was a focus on the current achievements and unofficial capacity. of our members at the annual awards dinner, the major highlights came from our celebration of achievements Over the past twelve over a longer period time. These included the award months I have had an of Life Membership to Brian Hinton and Ken Bonham, opportunity to visit of presentation of the inaugural winners of the Service to the States and Territories the Sport Award to David Hansen and Garth Prowd and in either an official capacity or as a competitor the opportunity to admit Brad Beven as a member of at an event. On each of these occasions I have the Triathlon Australia Hall of Fame. been overwhelmed by the capacity of our triathlon community for hard work, by both our volunteers and In my role as President I have the privilege of our hard working employees. attending the meetings of many of our board sub- committees. There is a large group of volunteers on The focus of our annual report is on achievement by our these committees that give of their time to provide us members in their capacity as athletes, both elite and with the benefit of their knowledge and expertise. Many age-group, officials, coaches or administrators. of the achievements highlighted in our annual report are in part a consequence of the efforts of these sub- The 2013 year has been one of transition for our high committees. Without diminishing the achievements of performance team with the appointment of a new High any one committee I am going to particularly thank the Performance Director and transition of some of our members of the paratriathlon committee for their work senior athletes from short course competition to the in expanding the opportunities for our paratriathlon long course format. I want to take this opportunity community and the technical committee for their to thank Michael Flynn and Shaun Stephens for their continued efforts in maintaining the safety and fairness efforts in managing the high performance team in the of our events. period prior to December 2012. Australia has a rich history in short course competition and athletes like In the further development of our sport we have plans Emma Snowsill, Courtney Atkinson and Brad Kahlefeldt as an association to appoint a number of key personnel have been a major part of this success. I wish them all with experience in the technical side of our sport. For of the best for their future endeavours. a long time we have relied on hard working volunteers to meet our obligations as an association to the safety A focus on the development of junior athletes over and fairness of events with limited assistance. The recent years that has resulted in identification of some financial stability of our association provides us with promising junior athletes culminated in a clean sweep an opportunity to provide greater assistance to our by our junior athletes in the challenging conditions volunteers. for the Australian Youth Olympic Festival (“AYOF”) in January 2013. Identification of talented athletes was In early 2013 we completed a review of our strategic a key reason for a successful application by our high plan, including our key value drivers. During this performance team for additional funding as part of the process we were reminded that there was a deficiency ASC’s Winning Edge strategy. Our efforts also resulted in our existing value drivers and we agreed to add in the Ironman World Championships being included as ‘Respect’. We consider this to be a fundamental driver one of our high performance KPI’s by the ASC. of the association and is the value that we consider before making any decision as an association. The 2012-2013 year saw some outstanding performances by our elite athletes and these were The sport of triathlon has taken giant leaps in recent celebrated at our Celebration of Champions Awards 8 | www.triathlon.org.au Triathlon Australia Annual Report 2012-2013 years. In this our annual report you will read about significant increases in membership levels, diversity in member benefits, improvements in our relationships with event directors and many other initiatives. These initiatives have been driven by co-operation of the hard working executive resources within our sport, the efforts of a united group of Presidents (together with their Boards) and a group of forward thinking directors. While the further evolution of our sport will come from the continued efforts of these groups, all of this would be in vain without our members.