TRIATHLON-CONGRESS

TRIATHLON-CONGRESS Triathlon coaches gather in Cancun before de the World Championships Cancun, Mexico, November 4,2002.- Twenty coaches from eight countries are gathering Monday and Tuesday at Gran Caribe Real Hotel in Cancun to exchange and discuss ideas and experience on this new Olympic sport, as part of the events prior to the ITU World Championships this weekend in Cancun. "This symposium is not meant to train coaches, but to debate issues of common interest and the new training trends", said Pan American Triathlon Confederation (PATCO) training director Claudia Beristain. The participating coaches will discuss lectures related to doping, injuries, high-altitude training, the use of heart-rate monitors, biomechanics, cycling and swimming, among others. One of the most interesting lectures is the one to be delivered by PATCO Women's Commission president Nelly Becerra, who will talk on "total immersion", based on the philosophy that man should swim like a fish and thus save up energy for the cycling and running segments. Attending a press conference together with Beristain and Becerra, Sergio Nivon, neurophysiology doctor at the University of Geneva, underlined that technique is key in every sport, specially in triathlon, which demands physical effort in three disciplines. Nivon will talk on the use of heart-rate monitors, "which will give us an idea how much energy we spent when racing or training". The coaches congress started in the 2001 Edmonton World Championships at an ITU initiative to help coaches exchange and update their knowledge on this new sport, born in 1974 and included in the Olympic program since the 2000 Sydney Games. Beristain also offered details on the PATCO coaches courses, opened in Edmonton, Canada, in July, with the attendance of 30 specialists from 15 countries. They all attained level I for national team coaches. A similar course is scheduled December 16-21 in Montevideo, Uruguay, and will be conducted by Argentina's Enrique Bollana and Mexico's Luis Hernandez. This symposium is part of the events to be held this week leading to the ITU World Triathlon Championships in Cancun, November 9-10, with an expected attendance of some 3.000 athletes from 70 countries.