Triathlon Ireland & Norway Triathlon Announce New Partnership
The National Federations for Triathlon in Ireland and Norway have today announced an important new strategic partnership. The partnership, designed to be in place initially until the LA 2028 Olympic Games, will see the organisations work together towards strengthening triathlon in both countries.
By joining forces, Triathlon Ireland and the Triathlon National Federation of Norway aim to exchange knowledge, expertise, and best practices to enhance the quality of triathlon events, training programmes, governance and athlete development initiatives. This will be carried out in a variety of ways including athlete and coach exchanges, joint events, training camps, knowledge sharing initiatives, innovation and development projects, a problem solving centre and governance co-operation.
Triathlon Ireland CEO Darren Coombes highlights the strategic importance of the partnership, and its significance for the Irish organisation:
“We are extremely excited to announce this new partnership, a first of its kind for Triathlon Ireland. Our High Performance team will benefit hugely from working and training with the Norwegian team as we work towards qualification for LA28, however the benefits for both federations run organisation-wide. We can each learn so much from the other across participation, coaching, marketing and strong governance, and in taking this innovative approach to collaboration, strive to be best-in-class.”
The first step for this new partnership was an innovative joint performance training camp held in Sierra Nevada, Spain. Members of the Irish and Norwegian High Performance teams attended to train together. Triathlon Ireland High Performance Director Gordon Crawford outlines the importance of this initiative, and what it means for both athletes and coaches:
“I am delighted with the announcement of this new partnership between Triathlon Ireland and Triathlon Norway. It is an exciting collaboration and a great way to start the new 2028 LA cycle for both federations. The real opportunity and benefit of our collaboration will be our sharing of knowledge and best practice to improve the identification and development of athletic and coaching talent; training together across youth, junior, elite and paratriathlon. More importantly – Coming together is the beginning. Working to help each other is progress and performing together is success.”
Speaking on behalf of Triathlon National Federation of Norway, Secretary General Gabrielle Bjørnstad-Northern said:
“We believe in great benefit for both parties through this collaboration.The Federations of Ireland and Norway have different strengths. We are looking forward to learning from Ireland and to share competencies we have developed over the years. Also, I believe just sharing the load, and discussing and finding good solutions to things with people with other experiences will be of great benefit. Personally, I am very happy that this collaboration is going ahead.”
To learn more about the partnership, watch the video below where we catch up with staff and athletes from Triathlon Ireland and Norway Triathlon.
