The Corus British Triathlon Team for the World Championships is announced

The Corus British Triathlon Team, which will compete at the 2006 ITU World Championships in Lausanne Switzerland on 2^nd and 3^rd September 2006, was announced today. Great Britain will have at least 16 representatives racing at the event across a range of levels including Senior, U23 and Junior.

Promising 21 year old, Will Clarke, will be leading the charge for Great Britain’s U23 Men’s team. Clarke, who is current European U23 Champion and bronze medallist from the Salford BG Triathlon World Cup just 10 days ago, will be looking to add to his medal collection in Switzerland.

Despite being his first season at U23 level, former European Junior Champion, Oliver Freeman, should also feature strongly after winning a silver medal behind Clarke at the Under 23 European Championships in July, and achieving a third place finish at the London Triathlon last weekend.

In the Junior Boys field, Alistair Brownlee, from Leeds, will line up as a leading contender after a successful season including victory in the European Junior Triathlon Cup in Croatia and a silver medal at the World Duathlon Championships in Corner Brook, Canada, two weeks ago.

Following her fourth place finish in the European Championships, Andrea Whitcombe, who won the London Triathlon 3 days ago, is aiming to build on her top ten performance from the World Championships last year. 22 year old Helen Tucker, who is currently recovering from an Achilles strain, is hoping to join the team and compete in either the Women’s U23  or Senior event, although a decision on her fitness will not be made for another two weeks.

In addition, emerging talent, Rosie Clarke is awaiting confirmation of a wild card entry into the Women’s U23 event from the ITU. Despite being just 19 years old, Rosie is following hot on the heels of her brother Will in a bid to make an impact on the international stage.

Rosie and Will Clarke from Cambridge are one of three pairs of siblings who have been selected in The Corus British Triathlon Team – Oliver Freeman’s sister, Henrietta, will line up for Women’s U23 event and Alistair Brownlee’s brother, Jonathan, will be competing in the same field as his elder brother.

British Triathlon Performance Director, Graeme Maw, commented:

“I believe these are strong teams indicative of the position of The Corus British Triathlon Team two years out from the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

We have medal chances in four of the six races and, as at the European Championships, will be looking to convert at least half of those. The athletes understand that, and will be working closely together with each other and with their coaches to maximise their overall performance.”

The Corus British Triathlon Team:

Team Director:  Graeme Maw
Manager:  Heather Williams
Mechanic:  Glenn Coltman
Physio:  John Dennis

For further information on Corus or British Triathlon, please see www. britishtriathlon.org or call:

British Triathlon, Peter Holmes - Tel: +44 (0)1509 226188 / +44 (0)7795 415 452

Pitch PR, Victoria Fuller - Tel: 44 (0)207 494 1616 / +44 (0)7813 775592

Corus, Annanya Sarin - Tel: +44 (0)207 7174532 / +44 (0)7766 750 001

NOTES TO EDITORS

About British Triathlon
British Triathlon is the National Governing Body for triathlon, the UK’s fastest growing sport.  At international level Great Britain boasts a strong squad of world ranked elite triathletes who regularly achieve international success and has some outstanding young talent emerging from its youth programmes. Since becoming an Olympic sport in 2000, British Triathlon has seen annual increases in membership numbers of 10%. There are over 500 triathlon events conducted in Great Britain each year including the London Triathlon, arguably the largest triathlon event in the World and the ITU World Cup race in Salford, one of the world’s leading international races. 

About Corus
Corus Group Plc (LSE/AEX: CS; NYSE: CGA) is one of the world’s leading steel producers with annual turnover of over £9 billion and major operating facilities in the U.K., the Netherlands, Germany, France, Norway and Belgium. Corus’ divisions comprising Strip Products, Long Products, Distribution & Building Systems and Aluminium provide innovative solutions to the construction, automotive, rail, general engineering and packaging markets worldwide. Corus has 42,600 employees in over 40 countries and sales offices and service centres worldwide.

Corus is British Triathlon’s premier commercial sponsor. This sports sponsorship is a first for both Corus and British Triathlon and demonstrates Corus’ commitment to developing Great Britain’s triathlon talent and to investing in the sport’s longer-term legacy through support of grassroots initiatives.  At grassroots level, Corus will support a number of community-based initiatives including nationwide programmes to develop triathlon for school age children through ‘Corus Kids of Steel’ and for athletes with a disability at a community level. Corus’ sponsorship will go towards helping British Triathlon in all aspects of the sport, with the aim of developing strong future athletes at all levels through to the Elite. Triathlon, which first became an Olympic sport in 2000, is already the UK’s fastest growing sport.