Juniors

We run regular weekly junior training sessions on Saturdays, Mondays and Thursdays.

Click here  to download the Junior Membership Application Form

Our Saturday morning sessions run from 8 am until 10am at Impington Village College.

We have two age-based training squads (see below) which follow different programmes on Saturdays: One squad cycles while the other runs and then swims. On cycling weeks you will need to bring your bike, cycling kit and running shoes. On running and swimming weeks you will need to bring running kit and swimming kit. Look at the timetable below to see which weeks you need to bring your bike and which weeks you need to bring your swimming kit.

Please try to arrive by 7.50am so you have time to lock up your bike, get changed and be ready to start at 8am. Cost is £2.50.

Our Monday session is swimming at Bottisham Village College. It runs from 7:15 till 8:15. Cost is £2.50

Our Thursday session is running. It takes place on the Leys School field at Latham Road (Turning into Latham Road from Trumpington Road, the entry to the field is the first turning on the left, map). This is a quality session particularly suited to our Youth and Tristar 3 juniors who are committed to improving their running times. If you would like to see improved results this season and are prepared to work hard then please come along! Start time is 6:45pm and the duration is about an hour. Cost is £1.

Fees may be paid in advance at discount rates, please contact the Junior Section Co-ordinators for more information. There is no need for parents to complete any additional paperwork each week but please keep us informed if contact numbers or medical conditions change

Non-members are very welcome to come to any session although parents will need to provide emergency contact details each time. Your first two sessions will be at the member rate. Our non-member price for all is £5 per session.

Prospective members.  Please contact Jan Adams, our Junior Co-ordinator, before coming to your first session so that we are ready for you and have time to welcome and introduce you.

 

Weekly Saturday Morning Programme

We run the Junior Section as two training squads based on age. Within each squad we adapt our programmes according to ability and experience. This allows us to tailor our programmes more closely.

Our squads:

Crocs: Youths and Tristar 3. For 2010 these are athletes born in and before 1997

Caimens: Tristar 2, Tristar 1 & Start. For 2010 these are athletes born in 1998 and later

The Saturday morning programme below is intended to give a general indication only. We might make changes at short notice due to the weather, the facilities & coaches available, and the number of athletes present. Please see timetable below to indicate which weeks you will need bikes. We will send an email notice if there are late changes to this schedule. Please ensure the Junior Section Co-ordinators have your current email address for these and other important notices.

Please ensure that you bring enough warm clothes with you - especially for cycling on the road. It can be pretty cold at 8am.

During December and January we use the indoor sports halls at IVC. These sessions include balance, agility, strength, core conditioning, circuit training, skills and movement. Please bring clean shoes.

NOTE: While the normal entrance to the IVC Sports Centre is closed please park in front of the main IVC entrance and access the sports centre from there. 

Sat 24th July - Crocs: Cycling & Running. Caimens: Running & Swimming.

Sat 31st July - Crocs & Caimens: Cycling/bike skills & Swimming.

Sat 7th August - Crocs & Caimens: Cycling/bike skills & Swimming.

Sat 14th August - No session.

Sat 21st August - No session.

Sat 28th August - Milton Country Park.

Racing

One of the main reasons for doing Triathlon Training is, of course, doing Triathlon Racing. See the British Triathlon web site http://www.britishtriathlon.org for the full Triathlon Racing Calendar.

Though triathlon is fundamentally an endurance sport Youths (Under 17) and TriStars (Under 15) always race over shorter distances. The table below gives typical distances for each age group. Note that the bike leg will be longer if it is on tarmac.

Age group Swim Bike
(if grass)		 Bike
(if tarmac)		 Run
Tri Start 8yrs 50m 800m 1500m 600m
TriStar1 9-10yrs 150m 2km 4km 1200m
TriStar2 11-12yrs 200m 4km 6km 1800m
TriStar3 13-14yrs 300m 6km 8km 2400m
Youth 15-16yrs 400m   10km 2500m (= senior Super Sprint distances)

Race distances are not precise. No two events are the same as the transitions between each discipline are included in the race.

2010 Club Championships

The objective of the Youth Championship is to encourage representation by club members in events, to encourage experience of events for new members and to generate a friendly atmosphere of competition for our young members.

There will be a male and female winner for each age of five age groups, based on age on 31 Dec 2009. The Age Groups are:  Tristart (8 years), Tristar 1 (9-10yrs), Tristar 2 (11-12 yrs), Tristar 3 (13-14yrs) and  Youth (15-16 yrs). There will also be two Best Improver awards (1 male, 1 female) awarded by the Coaches.

The following scoring system will be used:

For each race and time trial a maximum of 50 points will be awarded for the 1st (male and female) in each age group, 47 points for 2nd place, 45 points for 3rd, 44points for 4th etc.

There will be a total of 5 scores for each junior to give a final total: 2 races (best two out of three) and 3 time trials -  cycling, swimming and running.

The best two scores out of the three races available will be used towards the final score. However  any junior that takes part in all three races has a better chance of doing well.

Each junior must take part in at least one time trial for swimming/running/cycling to get a score for that discipline. There will be a choice of 2 dates for  cycling and swimming and 3 dates for running.

In the event of a tie the Rob Mclean Youth Triathlon ( Cambridge Junior Tri) will  be used as the decider – so it is important to take part in this one!

In the 5k/2k running races the youth age group (15/16 at 31st Dec) are required to run  5k to score, all other age groups should run 2k (for one race out of the three to get a score).

The events:

Races:  2 best scores will count.

  • Walden Junior Tri  (Inter Club Competition)  Saturday 8th May. Entry through Jan - £3.00 entry fee
  • Rob Mclean Youth Triathlon  Sunday 27th June.  Entry through Cambridge triathlon club website www.cambridgetriathlonclub.com
  • Cambridge Aquathlon Saturday 4th September.   Entry through Jan


Time trials:  best score in each discipline will count:

  • Running time trials (our own 2k/5k run series).   Entry through Cambridge Triathlon Club website www.cambridgetriathlonclub.com

Thursday 6th May, Thursday 27th May, Thursday 10th June.

  • Cycling time trials: Saturday mornings during training

Crocs: 15th May & 18th September

Caimens 19th June & 11th September

  • Swimming time trials:  Saturday mornings during training

Crocs: 19th May & 11th September

Caimens: 15th May & 18th September

YOU are responsible for entering your own selected races.

If you wish to compete in the Eastern Series competition, please see the Triathlon England East website. You must be a Cambridge Club member to compete in the Eastern Series.  

Equipment

The essential equipment for giving triathlon a go comprises nothing more than a swimming costume and goggles, a pair of trainers, vest or T-shirt to wear for the cycle and the run, a bike and a cycling helmet. For training sessions the only addition is suitable clothing for running and cycle training.

A mountain bike is fine though swapping the knobbly tyres for smooth ones is a cheap and simple upgrade that will make a huge difference.  Though many of our juniors have now moved onto road bikes they all, without exception, started on mountain bikes.

 

Our Philosophy

Triathlon is a very unusual sport – both in its nature and its culture. At the top level it requires a high level of all round fitness, endurance, balance, co-ordination, intelligence, motivation, self-belief and dedication. It offers a huge variety of training and racing environments and caters extremely well for participants of a wide range of ability. Culturally it is a very new sport and keen to embrace new ideas and new thinking. It has very little of the baggage of more established sports. There is complete equality between sexes, for instance, and competition is in five year age categories from 20 through to 80. Under 20 the bands are two years wide.

Our philosophy at Cambridge TC is closely aligned with that of the British Triathlon Association. Firstly we want to have fun but we place a strong emphasis on learning essential skills and building confidence. Doing a sport well is safe, satisfying and provides a sound platform for long-term development and life-long enjoyment. We teach good swimming technique, we teach good running technique and we teach good cycling technique. Besides the three basic disciplines we work on fundamentals such as balance, agility, core stability, speed of movement, flexibility and strength.

Cycling on the roads forms a major part of any triathlete’s training (and racing) programme so we regularly take our junior section cycling on the roads. Here the initial emphasis is on road safety and awareness, then on learning to ride in a group, then on developing basic cycling endurance. As many Tristars (U15) races involve cycling on grass we include that in our programme too.

We are well aware that in this age band there is a wide range of ability and physical development. There is also a big difference in speed between a heavy mountain bike with knobbly tyres and a lightweight road bike with narrow slicks. We’re only interested in helping our young members to have fun, to learn and to get their own rewards through seeing themselves improve. Ultimately those who start with us are likely to be the ‘top dogs’ when they reach the senior ranks. Those who come to us who already have strong swimming and/or running backgrounds could be in a position to progress very rapidly and we are able to provide support right through to international level. We have strong links with the BTA World Class Performance Programme. So far five of our young triathletes have gained a place on the Programme and two have represented GB as Junior Internationals.

All of our sessions are run by trained and qualified coaches. In addition the Club has a Welfare Officer and is, of course, affiliated to the British Triathlon Association.

 

Race Preparation

Triathlon is an unusual sport. Every race is different, there is a lot of kit and equipment involved, you have to look after yourself (no team manager) and you only get one go at getting it right. Preparation is really important. Here are a couple of favourite maxims:

  • Failing to prepare is preparing to fail
  • Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Poor Performance
    • .


Things to do in the days beforehand:

Make sure that you know:

  • Where the event is
  • How long it will take to get there (include car parking time)
  • What time you have to register
  • What time your race starts


Check that all of your kit and equipment is ready.

  • Bike (everything in working order)
  • helmet
  • shoes (running shoes, cycling shoes, elastic laces or toggles)
  • goggles & swim hat
  • race clothes – swimming costume, tri-suit, T-shirt, sunglasses…
  • towel talcum powder (to put in your shoes)
  • drink bottle

If you only discover that something is missing the evening before the race that’s too late to do anything about it.

Here are a few things that it’s a good idea to have with you
- safety pins, elastic bands, insulating tape, spare inner tube & tyre levers, bike tools, bike pump, spare goggles, spare swim hat, toilet roll.

The day before the race:

One important factor in racing well is having plenty of energy. Energy comes from food and goes through exercise and activity. There is no need to eat loads and loads before a race unless it’s over two hours long but conserving energy by taking things fairly easily and eating good quality food is a good idea. Good quality food is carbohydrate – like pasta or rice; vegetables; and protein like meat or fish. It’s best to avoid fatty and sugary snacks like crisps, cakes, chips, burgers, sweets and chocolates. The best thing to drink is water. Most races start quite early in the morning so staying up late isn’t a great idea.

Race day:
Racing on a full stomach is likely to make you feel sick. Racing without any breakfast is also likely to make you feel sick. The answer is to eat a sensible breakfast about two and half to three hours before the race. Besides ensuring that you have some energy and that you have digested your food properly this also means that you are wide awake, fully alert and don’t feel as though you have just got out of bed by the time you race.

A sensible breakfast is something like cereal & toast. It’s sensible to keep drinking up to the start of the race and OK to nibble on a few snacks, like a sandwich, a muesli bar or a banana. Again, sweets, crisps & chocolate do more harm than good*.

When you get to the race:

The four important things to do when you get to the race are:

  • Register, collect your signing on details and find out if there is any new information
  • Check the course
  • Set up your transition(s)
  • Warm up


If your planning was good you’ll have plenty of time for all of these. Remember that queuing for registration and toilets can use up a lot of pre-race time.

After the race:
The most important things to do after the race are to keep warm and to re-hydrate. This is also a good time for a sugary snack. Needless to say, being prepared in advance with warm clothes, food and drink is much better than not being prepared.

* Why do sweets, crisps and chocolates do more harm than good?

The body converts sugar to energy very quickly, in minutes, and the energy that it gets from fat is no good for racing because it cannot be metabolised at a quick enough rate. Eating sugary things is OK if you use the energy straight away – otherwise your body has to do something else with the sugar and it stores it as fat. Even if you do use the energy straight away it doesn’t last long and you feel ‘low’ half an hour later when the energy runs out. For very short races, having sugar just before the start can be beneficial: For races over half an hour it’s a bad idea because the energy low happens during the race.