B-Active Sports

WIN a THULE EuroWay G2 Bike carrier worth R5000.00 Pre Enter for the Midlands ULTRA and stay for Prize giving and this fantastic Bike Carrier could be yours! Foot-pedal-tilt for easy and convenient boot access while the carrier and bikes are mounted. A built-in stop prevents the bikes from touching the ground. The wide tilt-angle enables opening of even very large rear-doors without interfering with the carrier. With unique, detachable bike frame holders that can easily be removed, then returned in position after the bikes are loaded. A feature that makes loading of bikes faster and much more convenient. With rubber surface for protecting the bike frames. Fits all bike frames up to 80mm. Carrier lockable on towbar and all bikes lockable to carrier withone key - compatible with “Thule-One-Key-System”.

Garfield, TSA owns and controls anything that looks, sounds and smells like a triathlon or duathlon, on road and off the road. TSA's role is important for the sport, but the way they are going about raising funds to finance there association is wrong in my view. Event organisers and competitors are their source of income, so by charging us with high fees.. they are actually screwing themselves, however they will only realise this once its too late.

Latest update... ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Update 10 February TSA and CGT are pleased to announce that the issues in respect of the Prestige Ultra Triathlon event scheduled for 19 February 2012 at Abrahamsrust have been resolved. The event will take place as originally scheduled with SA Championship status and as co-selection race for the TSA Team to be selected. Spectrum Sport wish to apologise for any inconvenience caused due to prior non compliance of event and hosting requirements. Event Organisers are reminded to comply with event and hosting requirements or run the risk of events being cancelled _______________________________________________________________________________________________________

WIN XTERRA’s most popular wetsuit at the Midlands ULTRA Triathlon. Win a Xterra Vortex 3 Full Suit - valued at R2800.00. All you have to do is pre-enter and stay for prize giving at 3pm and it could be yours. It’s the ideal wetsuit for athletes who want an all-around wetsuit to use while training and racing. FLEXIBLE • 5mm front and 3mm back of neoprene • Fully coated with the slickest Composite Skin coating CUTTING-EDGE DESIGN • High quality X-Flex liner throughout entire suit, whereas most other mid-level wetsuits use a high quality liner only in the arms • Lower neck design adds comfort and increased durability to ensure that the suit will stay intact for seasons • Seam-seal technology uses a triple layer of glue and doubleblind stitching to ensure waterproof and long-lasting seams

There is something like that in the pipe line BIG ED, but its a process and will take time. Only one controlling body is allowed by Nocsa (Olympic Committee) and the Dept of Sport and Rec. So TSA is it. Here are some of the costs below that are stated in the new TSA sanctioning forms (remember if you are not sanctioned, TSA can call the Dept of Sport who inturn can call SAPS to close down you event on the day) HOSTING FEES: Hosting fee for a Provincail event: R5000.00 Hosting Fee for National Event: R20 000.00 Hosting fee for International: R30 000.00 (This is just to let you put your race on, you get nothing for this) REGIONAL SANCTIONING FEES / LEVIES: Sprint Race: R15pp STD / Olympic: R25pp Long Dist: R50pp NATIONAL SERIES SANCTIONING FEES : Sprint: R40pp STD / Olympic: R50pp Long Dist: R80pp BROADCASTING FEE: To flight your event on TV, you must pay TSA R7500.00 ... for what? They should pay you to help with the R60 000 Broadcasting and production costs. Serious problem and lack of throught here. DAY LICENCES: R70 per athlete (Event organisers are responsible to collect all day licence money) - TSA won't even send someone there to collect their OWN money. What do Event organisers get: Officials to manage Safety of the athletes and the winners Public Liability for the event (which could be bought for R3000.00 from any insurance company) This all comes directly from the TSA sanction forms and is public knowlegde and should be shown to the athletes who actually make up the sport. TSA also controls any triathlon / duathlon, paddle / swim and any Off road event.

Garfield I could not agree with you more. There is alot going on behind the scenes in the triathlon fraternity that TSA is unaware of, but will be soon. The day Licence fees are ridiculous and the race levies are astromonical. We worked out that we could be paying TSA over R60 000 for our Midlands race... more then we will actually make.... who's sport is it anyway? The Prestige ULTRA will go on, I can assure you that Louis will make it happen.

There are still a few Team places left.

2012 McCarthy Toyota Durban Multisport Series presented by SUNCOAST The DURBAN Multisport Series kicks off in March, with its first of 4 events in the 2012 Series. Full Road Closure for all events New water table mngt (2 full WT's on route) Do all 4 events and win a THULE Bike Rack worth R5 500.00 R10 000 prize money per event Loads of Lucky draw prizes per event Competitors now have 4 events to choose from, Rookie Triathlon, Sprint triathlon and Olympic Triathlon. There will also be one Sprint Duathlon event which takes place at the same time as the Sprint triathlon race. Rookie Triathlon – 150m swim / 5km Cycle / 2.5km Run (min age 8yrs) Sprint Triathlon – 600m Swim / 20km Cycle / 5km Run (Min Age 15yrs) Sprint Duathlon – 5km Run / 20km Cycle / 2.5km Run (Min Age 15yrs) Olympic Triathlon – 1.5km swim / 40km Cycle / 10km Run (Min Age 18yrs) With full road closures from Durban Metro Police and a fantastic family setting at Suncoast Casino & Entertainment World, this series once again promises a great atmosphere and an endless supply of fun. The Series dates are: 25th March 22nd July 26th August 2nd December RACE INFO : http://www.bactive.com/events.htm

32 Days until the 2012 Midlands Ultra Triathlon. 18 days left to enter, so hurry before space is full. CONTRATULATIONS to Cor Potgieter, the winner of our Midlands Ultra THULE bike rack giveaway! Cor is now the proud owner of a THULE ProRide 591 bike rack for entering the Midlands Ultra before the 1st of February! We hope you enjoy it Cor!

Event Name: 2012 Grindrod Bank Umngazi Pondo Pedal When: 6 June 2012 - 10 June 2012 Where: Umngazi River Bungalows, Eastern Cape Category: MTB Join us for this amazing 4 day event! Limited to only 132 riders / 66 Teams. If there is one event you must do each year.... this is it!! Fantastic free riding in the most beautiful part of South Africa. Go to www.pondopedal.com for more info and to enter, only 12 Team places left. See you there. Go to Event Page

Only 12 Team places left !

Accomidation Special for Midlands ULTRA Athletes @ Woodridge Country Hotel & Spa 4 Star Hotel Tel: 033 23 444 23 Cell: 082 566 2774 Email: woodridge@worldonline.co.za Website: www.woodridge-estate.com ........or Book your Chalet or camp site at Midmar Dam soon as space is limited. More B&B accomidation options available www.wheretostay.co.za Book early!

Good Luck to all you 70.3 competitors for this weekend!

It is a great idea. However we have already proposed this to KZN Wildlife who own and manage the dam, but they cannot give us any deal as it is a government run organisation and all bookings need to be done through central resevations in JHB. We also tried to pay for your gate entrance fee, so that you would be allowed to just drive in to the Dam without being stopped and having to pay. However The need to issue each person with a ticket and they need to collect cash from each athletes themselves. They said something about auditing etc. Even the Midmar Mile competitors and spectators who number 30 000 people in 2 days have to pay themselves. We have tried guys... but as you can see, talking on deaf ears and red tape doesn't help. There are still Chalets available and loads of camping sites for that weekend. But just a suggestion, if you are booking for camping or Chalets... book early as the good sites fill up fast. For people wanting 3* plus accomidation, try our Accomidation partner Woodridge Hotel and Spa which is only 10min drive from Midmar and is fantastic. Regards B-Active Sports

Hi Guys I apologise for the dam level comment, for some reason I thought you were referring to that water, as we have an email earlier that day from another competitor about the level of the dam. We certainly weren't being flippant about a previous problem. Yes there will be plenty of water and other liquids on the run route for the Midlands Ultra this year. We have more then tripled the water sachet allocation incase of the 38deg weather again. Added to this, we will have GU brew out on the route as well as Coke. The problem we had last year was that people used the water sachets to cool themselves down from the heat. To combat this problem we will be using sponges and water troughs at the water tables as well as possible mist tunnels and showers on route. We also have 2 back up plans for water, consisting of 2 x 750lt water trailers which will be positioned out on the route as well as an emergency supply of cold water in our walk in fridge at the finish. Last years event did not have the support of the Provincial RTI police (Freeway) we have secured them for this years events, to keep unnessasary traffic off our bike route. This added to the Howick police who do a fantastic job should keep traffic low and keep you guys safe. Unfortunatley we have tried for road closure, we even took our application to the dept of transport but to no avail. I can assure you that barring elements out of our control, we will not run out of water at any of our events again. We apologise to those who have experienced problems and we hope that we can show you that we have fix them. Regards B-Active Sports

If events aren't sanctioned, then no police permission is given by SAPS and it could be shut down by them on the day... nothing more embarrasing then that! Whether it will actually happen.. who knows, but I am not the keen to find out. re the water temp differences, remember IM and ITU are different and have differnt rules.. completely! Yes the cost of entry fees are rising and with the new TSA fees increasing, they are set to rise somemore. TSA day licences have gone from R30.00 in 2011 to R70.00 There is now a R5000.00 hosting fee for a provincial event or R50 000 for an international event, which TSA charges... just so that you can stage your race.. you get nothing for it. Your race Levies are now: R15 per athlete for a Sprint race. R25 per Olympic and R50 per athlete for 1/2 Ironman dist or more. Now these are just provincial events, if national or international... it goes up to R100 per athlete. What do event organiser get for this? Nothing. If you want your race on Tv, you need to pay the R60 000 production fee to the production company, but now you also need to pay R7500.00 to TSA to flight it on TV... for what?? I don't know. So yes, entry fees are rising and it doesn't mean the organisers are making more money, but rather that TSA is!!

Just to clear this up... this drowning happened at the Midmar Mile. Garfield, as mentioned before putting pressure on the event organisers won't nesesarily work. As event organisers by law have to have their events sanctioned by TSA. Triathlon SA needs to be approached by the athletes on this matter. As event organisers, we don't even get consulted by TSA on the ridiculous TSA sanctioing fees and "high" hosting and day licence fees they have now implemented, to try bleed the sport dry!! My suggestion... get a petition signed at 70.3 and send it to TSA ... let the athletes speak!

Already done and changed. Check the NEW run route map and profile The laps are 10.1km each from each turn point, as you don't go back to the finish for the turn onto lap 2. Its 400m to the turn point and so out and back is 800m + the 20.2km (2 laps) = 21km. Hope to see you there.

The 2011 route was officially 85.4km instead of the 90km due to safety concerns at the turning point. We will try to get as close to the 90km required at the 2012 events. The run route for the 2012 Series will be ALOT faster the previously. The route is flatter, all on tar and alot easier. You can expect your run times to be between 3 and 6min faster than 2011. Hope to see you there. The B-Active Sports Team

hey guys Ok i have done loads of triathlons, MTB rsces and just normal training. I have had a Polar, Suunto and I currently have a Garmin 305 which I cycle with and run with as its small. I did however buy myself a Timex Run Trainer for christmas. Its purely for running, but the technology is the best I have ever used. They make a Global trainer, which is very competitvely priced if you buy from overseas and is specifically for multisports. The Timex Run trainer hasn't been launched here yet, but it is a watch GPS and HR and downloads to your computer with a cable and has a rechargable battery. The strap is also alot better then the Garmin, Polar and Suunto. I bought it from Hr Monitors website and it cost me R1800 including delivery to SA and took only 5 days. I paid via credit card and actually had to wait 2 days while Timex delivered delivered it to them... thats how new it is. The equivelant Garmin in SA costs R2800 and the only benifit is that is has a longer battery life. However I am not planning on running for more than 8hrs in a row for a while, plus i don't race using gadgets... more to go wrong and mess your race up. Check it out, its my first Timex and now I know why its the official Ironman time keeper!! www.heartratemonitors.com

Hey Guys Thanks for all the feedback and comments. its kept our post at the top for the past week. Thanks also for opening a new poll and using the old post to chat further on this... We appreaicte it. As I said before, this is something you need to take to TSA as the event organisers abide by the rules layed out for them. Happy training and hope to see you at the event in March with or without your wetsuit. Cheers Damian Bradley Race Director

HI Guys I don't want our Midlands ULTRA post to take a turn away from its main objective as there is already alot being said on other posts about the wetsuit / temp issues. But regarding the wetsuit stance and our event: We comply with all TSA rules as our event is fully sanctioned. This does mean that we need to conform to their water temp regulations. However in saying this, i agree that there is arguement here and i agree that in looking to grow numbers this is an option. We will approach TSA about this issue. We can't promise anything but we will discuss it. If you guys want to get this issue reviewed and take it further,We suggest you take it up with TSA as our hands are actualy tied. By LAW we have to have our events sanctioned by the controling body and if we don't want it will be shut down by SAPS. There is not much we as event organisers can do and you the athletes need to take this to TSA. Happy Training and Merry Christmas The B-Active Sports Team

Midlands ULTRA Accommodation WINNER: Congratulations to Robyn Leslie who is the lucky winner of the Woodridge Hotel and Spa Accommodation prize, worth R3500.00. Robyn and her partner will be staying at the beautiful Woodridge Hotel and Spa for 2 nights courtesy of Woodridge Hotel and the Midlands Ultra Triathlon. From all of us B-Active Sports, we hope you have a Merry Christmas and a festive New Year!

Partial Road closure given for 2012 Midlands Ultra Triathlon After a meeting with the KZN Department of Transport, Howick and RTI Police have given the 2012 Midlands Ultra partial road closure, which will see the removing of excess traffic and heavy trucks from the race route. Full road closure was discussed at the meeting, however with the R103 being a major road and running parallel with a "High Accident" area of the N3, full road closure cannot be given. With that area of the Midlands Meander being a popular destination especially on Sunday’s, road closure is not a viable option. Race organisers B-Active Sports were disappointed that full road closure was not given, however the Police have assured them that the partial road closure will push any excess traffic off the route. Only light vehicles accessing the various B&B's, Hotels, businesses and restaurants will be allowed onto the route, between 7am and 12:30pm. "We are disappointed that full road closure was not give" said Race Director Damian Bradley, "But this is an improvement from 2011 and we hope that it will improve the athletes safety so that they can focus on the race and beautiful midlands scenery"

Breaking News: FINIS , Xterra Wetsuits and GU Energy Lab Partner up with the Midlands Ultra Triathlon Series. B-Active Sports are excited to announce that International swimming brand FINIS has partnered up with the prestigious Midlands Ultra Triathlon Series. FINIS will be offering all Midlands Ultra athletes discounted swimming gear. There will be an Online order form on the Midlands Ultra Website soon. Xterra Wetsuits has Partnered up as the Offical "Swim Section" partner for the 2012 Series. Xterra will be offering all Midlands Ultra Athletes a 15%n discount on all Wetsuits. Look out on the Midlands Ultra website soon for details. GU Energy Lab has signed up as the Official Nutrition Partner for the 2012 Tri-Series. Rebecca from GU Energy Labs said they are proud to be the official nutrition partner to the Midlands Ultra Tri-Series , an event that allows GU Energy to showcase their support for athletes’ endurance and nutrition needs in training and on race day. Look out shortly on the Midlands Ultra Triathlon Series website: www.midlandsultra.com for all the latest info and updates. Early Bird Entries are open and athletes recieved a 10% discount on the 2012 Entry prices if competitors enter before the 12th of December... only 25day left. Competitors entering before the 12th of Dec also stand a chance to win FREE race accomodation at Woodridge Hotel and Spa for 2 people or a THULE Bike carrier worth R1600.00. So enter now and get your name on the start list. www.midlandsultra.com