ANNUAL REPORT 2009/2010 Triathlon Australia Limited ABN 67 007 356 907 Level 3 256 Coward Street Mascot New South Wales 2020 Australia Telephone +61 2 9972 7999 Facsimile +61 2 9972 7998 Email [email protected] www.triathlon.org.au All photographs used in this report are courtesy of Delly Carr Principle Partner CONTENTS Mission Overview 4 Patron‟s Message 5 President‟s Review 6 Message from the Australian Sports Commission 9 Triathlon Australia Board of Directors 10 Triathlon Australia Executive Staff 12 Triathlon Australia State Associations 12 Triathlon Australia Committee Members 13 2009-2010 Around the Nation Highlights 14 National Duathlon Series Report 18 ITU Triathlon World Championship Series Grand Final, Gold Coast 19 ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships, Perth 20 ITU Triathlon World Championship Series, Sydney 21 Honour Board 22 Triathlon Australia Hall of Fame 23 2009/2010 National Age Group Champions 24 2009/2010 World Age Group Representatives 26 Committee Reports 30 2010 Sydney ITU WCS Committee 30 IT/Database Working Committee 32 2009/2010 High Performance Athlete Selection Committee 33 National Calendar Committee 36 National Technical Committee 36 Financial Report 38 3 Annual Report 2009/2010 MISSION OVERVIEW VISION “To be a 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 Enjoyment Belonging Achievement KEY OBJECTIVES Organisational Excellence Objective “To build a sustainable and prosperous organisation by enabling innovation, collabo- ration and excellence in the development of its assets” Participation Objective “To grow participation in the sport of triathlon by providing leadership and increased opportunities” Memberships Objective “To grow membership by increasing the number of new members and retaining exist- ing members” Events Objective “To ensure that opportunities exist at all levels to compete in events of the highest quality through leadership and collaboration” High Performance Objective “Sustained international success through the provision of an effective and efficient athlete and coach pathway” Brand Objective “To develop the brand of triathlon so as to increase external investment in the sport” 4 Annual Report 2009/2010 THE PATRON OF TRIATHLON AUSTRALIA Mr Phil Coles As Patron of Triathlon Australia I am thrilled to have witnessed the outstanding development of the sport since its first Olympic recog- nition at the Sydney 2000 Games. It was at a meeting with President Juan Antonio Samaranch in Paris during the 1994 IOC Congress that he first expressed his wish to add two new sports to the Sydney Games programme. He asked for my thoughts on the matter and I immediately suggested Triathlon and Taekwondo. I considered Taekwondo worthy of in- clusion because of its long history and large participation base. On the other hand I believed Triathlon to be a wonderful candidate as a new sport which offered an excellent concept for exciting television coverage, with appeal to all age groups. Happily President Samaranch agreed that these two sports would be the perfect additions for Sydney 2000. As my interest in triathlon grew I became more involved in promoting the sport, serving for a number of years as Secretary General of the ITU. In 2000 the Sydney Olympic Games Organising Committee scheduled Triathlon as the first event on the programme. As a result the world was able to thrill to the spectacle of great athletes competing in an exciting new event with the beautiful backdrop of Sydney Harbor and the Opera House. What a wonderful showcase for Triathlon‟s Olympic debut. Since that time world Triathlon has gone from strength to strength and Triathlon Australia has produced a steady stream of outstanding and competitive triathletes. Triathlon Australia is to be congratulated for its outstanding achievements. I am very proud to have played a part in Triathlon‟s developmental journey and am extremely honoured to be recognized as the Patron of Triathlon Australia. 5 Annual Report 2009/2010 PRESIDENT‟S REVIEW Mr Peter Hedge Australians again dominated the world stage during this year and our con- gratulations go to Emma Moffatt who was crowned World Champion in the Gold Coast as the Series winner of the ITU World Championship Series in 2009 and to Craig Alexander who was again crowned Ironman World Cham- pion in Hawaii. It was also my great pleasure to present the Australian Triathlete of the Year Award to Craig Alexander at a ceremony in Mooloolaba earlier this year. The Triathlon Australia Hall of Fame was established during the year. The inaugural inductees where Greg Welch, Michellie Jones and Miles Stewart. These legends of our sport were deserving recipients of the inaugural awards. Our country hosted the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championships in all three ITU disciplines towards the end of 2009. The Sprint and Olympic distance World Champion- ships were held on the Gold Coast and the Long Distance World Championships were held in Perth. The events were an outstanding success and a credit to the organisers and the athletes who participated. Our sport returned to the site of the Sydney Olympic Games triathlon event when in April this year we hosted the inaugural round of the ITU World Championship Series in Sydney. The Sydney event is now a permanent feature in the ITU World Championship Series and will be the cornerstone event for a weekend of triathlon activity including an Olympic distant age group event in the centre of the city of Sydney. Such an event would not have been possible without the significant support from Events NSW and our event delivery partner for this Syd- ney event, USM Events. The significant contribution of this event to the profile of our sport cannot be underestimated. The 2010 World Championship Series will be decided at Budapest later this year and Austra- lians are again lining up for the podium. One of the most significant achievements this year for the future development of our sport was the finalisation by the Board of the 2010 – 2015 strategic plan for Triathlon in Australia. This strategic plan was the result of significant time and effort from the Australian Sports Commis- sion (ASC) working collaboratively with the volunteer and executive resources from amongst our State and National associations. The document is available for all members to view on our website. I commend this document to you as it serves as a guiding principle for our sport at every level to align our interests and focus our energy to achieve a common goal. The inaugural whole-of-sport conference titled “Share the Vision” in June 2010 has been hailed by attendees as a watershed event aimed at bringing all the relevant stakeholders of our sport together to share the vision outlined by the strategic plan, and to start working together to ensure our sport develops for the benefit of all members. As with all good strategic plans the ability to execute requires the appropriate structure and resourcing to be established and this has been a priority of the current Board during its first term in office. A number of new subcommittees were formed and new blood introduced to existing commit- tees. As a sport we are indeed indebted to those dedicated individuals who tirelessly support these committees. Our deepest appreciation to Frank Stapleton and those from his National Technical Committee 6 Annual Report 2009/2010 who retired at the end of the financial year and congratulations to Jacqui Kenny and her newly appointed team who took office as our new National Technical Committee at the end of June. For the first time in many years a National Calendar Committee was formed and achieved the objective of publishing a national calendar by the end of June this year. This committee will be continuing to develop initiatives to manage and communicate this most important tool to our members. Tony Newham as the inaugural Chairman and his team are to be congratulated on their achievements. Basic governance initiatives have also been a priority for the current Board. The newly formed Finance and Audit Committee chaired by David Ferrier has achieved extraordinary results in completing last year‟s accounts during the year and subsequently finalising the June 2010 au- dited financial statements attached with this Annual Report. Our sincere appreciation to David Ferrier for his work in this area. A significant project born out of our clearly defined strategic objectives has been a whole-of- sport IT/web database project. David Hislop initiated this project and as our inaugural Chair formed a committee to develop our needs and specifications. Luke Littler, the current Presi- dent of BRATS Triathlon Club, stepped up to the mark as work commitments took David away from us and has continued to lead an outstanding group of individuals from across all States in the development of this project . With National and State co-operation it is anticipated this project will be completed during the forthcoming year. I am excited at the significant benefits and opportunities this project presents for our sport and to each of us as individual members. The executive resources within our national office have undertaken significant change during the year. We have seen the departure of Andrew Hamilton after five years in the role together with Karen Higgs, Jerry Wiltshire and Katrina Brown from the office. Our sincere appreciation is extended to each of these individuals for the time and effort they have committed to the development of our sport during their time with the Association. A number of significant appointments have been made within our executive ranks. It is with extreme delight that the Board was able to secure the appointment of Anne Gripper as the Na- tional Chief Executive Officer of our National Federation.