Do you want to know what other triathletes think about TriStar200?

Written by Daniel Quintero | 23 November 2009

After the race we sent a feedback poll to all participants of the TriStar200 Andalucía. We wanted to know your opinion about the event and to see it with your eyes. By now we received lots of answers and we’re very glad you give us your feedback. Thanks a lot for filling in the feedback forms and by this giving us your compliments, criticism and suggestions! That will help us enourmously to improve the race further on and lift it to the next level.
But do you want to know the opinion of professional athletes like Martina Dogana, Marcel Zamora or Alejandro Santamaría which we have found on their blogs?
Here you can find links to their personal blogs:

Blog of Marcel Zamora
“The first kilometres served a lot of amateur athletes to ride next to the Pro athletes to get in touch with them for a short talk. One guy said to me ´I have registered only for this moment to ride next to you´. As I had race number 1 I had some athletes around me making the joke about helping me to win.”
“I observed the race as unbelievable and I salute the organization because at the end of the race all talked about it brilliantly. Although it was very hard we came to the conclusion to come back next year for sure.”
Link

Blog of Alejandro Santamaría
“Desafío achieved: third place in Desafío Doñana. After 169km of cycling, a 1km swim and 30km of running I arrived at the finish of this great race in third position.”
Link

Blog of Martina Dogana
“To be honest it was a very hard competition. In the running part you were only accompanied by the noise of the waves and some seagulls flying very lowly…A lot of loneliness but also a lot of concentration, which was an excellent training with an eye towards Kona. The last metres were fantastic; the Spanish people are unique in animating. So I really enjoyed the finishline ¨between two rows of spectators and the music after the silence of Doñana.”
Link

Blog of Andrés Carnevali (photograph and triathlete)
Here you have more photos of TriStar200 Andalucía and of the young and fantastic photograph from Andalucía itself, who also is a triathlete.
Link

Paul Amey and Martina Dogana - the first stars of the inaugural TriStar200 Andalucía

12 September 2009

(Written by Paul Moore who participated in TriStar200 Andalucía and published on the Triathlete Europe website)

Paul Amey has won the inaugural TriStar200 Andalucia. As part of the lead group from the start, Amey held off a fast-finishing Marcel Zamora to take the title on a blisteringly hot day in Andalucia. In the women’s race, Italian Martina Dogana finished strongly to take the title against a battling Tiina Boman.

Starting under the cover of darkness, Amey immediately took the race to his competitors as the field split into packs. With the leaders working together, it wasn’t until a majestic sunrise illuminated the stunning Andalucian countryside that things started to get really interesting.

As the lead group made it’s way towards Medina Sidonia - and the steep 3km climb that awaited them – the pack began to string out. Amey took advantage and helped initiate a breakaway group of three who worked together to take a lead of 90-seconds going through 100km.

This gap continued to grow as the leaders hit the coast, and by the time Amey entered T1 (4:02:56) it had grown to nearly four minutes over the chase group spearheaded by Zamora.

The swim, across the fast-flowing Rio Guadalquivir, served to split this group of three, with Amey leading out of the water.

And from that point onwards it was a battle of attrition.

On the sun-drenched beach and into a headwind, Amey too flight knowing that Zamora has a strong run on him. But Amey can also hold his own on the run, and had a comfortable lead going through the 10km mark.

With the sun at its hottest and a solid headwind challenging the leader, victory was far from secure. And Zamora was working hard. Going through 10km in the second-fastest split of the day (27:30), Zamora put the hammer down in the next 20km.

It wasn’t enough. Amey held off the Spaniard to take the win in 6:09:40, with Zamora in second (6:12:31) and Alejandro Santamaria in third (6:15:12).

The women’s race became a two-horse affair following an accident on the bicycle that left Ironman 70.3 Monaco winner Christel Robin with a shoulder injury that ruled her out of the race.

And the race quickly became a ding-dong battle. Initially it was Tiina Boman who appeared to have the upper hand, the Finnish athlete going through 100km with a 90 second lead (2:39:39) on the chasing Martina Dogana (2:41:24). But Boman couldn’t sustain the early pace, entering T1 twelve-seconds adrift of Dogana (4:28:28).

Boman, however, demonstrated her strength in the water and re-took the lead with a blistering 14:15 swim against the current.

But Boman’s lead was too slim to hold-off Dogana. The Italian immediately re-took the lead, and had built up a lead of 90-seconds through 10km. As Dogana put the hammer down, Boman had answer and the Italian eventually crossed the line in 6:55:48 with Boman second (7:02:32) and Maria Bravo in third (7:56:13).

Paul Amey and Fançois Chabaud participate in the Donana Challenge

Written by André Karsai | 24 August 2009

Paul Amey from Great Britain has 3 ITU World Champion titles on his record, and he will participate in the inaugural TriStar200 Andalucía on 12 September. "I enjoy competing in various distances of events and I love to travel to new and beautiful locations. TriStar events provide everything that I'm looking for outside of the normal Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races I compete in each year," he confirms his motivation to be part of the new adventure race in the south of Spain.

"With the global need for more exciting and challenging multisport events around the World, the TriStar events offer something for everyone and not only the best Professional athletes," Amey says, "TriStar is going to pave the way for a new format of multisport event that will entice competitors from all sporting backgrounds and abilities giving the competitor more choice in events they can do throughout the year."

Francois Chabaud from France thinks "The key for TriStar's success is the mix of athletes of all levels and the participation of some cycling stars." Chabaud will also be on the starting line of the first event of the new series that puts environmental consciousness and the fun factor in the focus of attention.

Each entrant also automatically supports Livestrong - the Lance Armstrong Foundation - with a donation of 30 EUR to help fight cancer.

Entries are still open until 5 September for individuals and relay teams, and a total prize purse of 70.000 EUR for both professional and amateur athletes will attract many more athletes in the coming days.