The British Triathlon Federation are seeking a new chief executive after current incumbent Zara Hyde Peters decided to leave the organisation. 

After six years with the organisation, Peters has left to explore new challenges.

Peters said: “It is a hard decision to step away from this role and this sport. The last six years have been some of the most enjoyable of my working life. But one of our organisation values is embracing change, something I am putting into practice with a move to a new leadership challenge through joining the NHS Executive Fast Track programme, part of the NHS’s drive for innovation, to bring fresh ideas, perspective and thinking into positions in the health service, and to work alongside the talented leaders who are already working in the NHS.

“Triathlon is a young sport and is still developing, so I look forward to watching the further growth and success of the sport. I have been Chief Executive for six incredible years and just as good governance dictates that Boards should evolve and change, I genuinely believe that the same is true of the staff leadership.”

Under her control, the sport has undergone a massive growth in participation, a significant shift in public profile and capped an amazing four-year journey when record crowds lined the route in Hyde Park to cheer home the first two triathletes to ever win Olympic medals for Team GB, Alistair and Jonny Brownlee.

Ian Howard TD, Chair of the British Triathlon Board said: “Zara leaves the Federation in fantastic shape for the future, but the organisation has high aspirations and we are looking for an exceptional individual to take the BTF forward to Rio 2016 and beyond. We believe this role will attract applicants from a wide variety of backgrounds and we are looking forward to the challenge of selecting the best candidate.”

The Brazilian Paralympic Committee (CPB) has nominated Andrew Parsons, doctor the committee’s current president, for the position of Vice President of the International Paralympic Committee (IPC).

In addition to his role as President of the CPB to which he was elected in March, Parsons is also currently a Member at Large of the IPC Governing Board. He is part of the Evaluation Commission currently involved in assessing the host city bids for the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Parsons is expected to be running against the incumbent IPC President Greg Hartung who also occupies the position of President of the Australian Paralympic Committee.

As per the IPC Code of Conduct for Candidates to Election, neither the CPB nor Parsons are permitted to make any further public comments on his nomination and IPC electoral process prior to the official public announcement by the IPC of all valid candidatures for election.

Colt Mackenzie McNair, doctor golf’s premier executive recruitment specialist, has been appointed exclusively to find the next Chief Executive Officer of the Golf Club Managers’ Association, an important organisation that supports up to 2,000 golf club secretaries and managers across Great Britain and Ireland.

Following the announcement that current CEO, Keith Lloyd, will leave his role next February, the Weston-Super-Mare based body, sitting at the heart of the UK golf industry, has turned to Colt Mackenzie McNair’s executive recruitment expertise to find his successor.

The GCMA, through its network of 17 regional secretaries across GB & Ireland, provides members with a comprehensive library of services that includes training courses, networking meetings, a member-only trade publication, national conference and valuable liaison with other golf bodies.

Mike Hoare, Chairman of the GCMA, commented: “It is essential Keith’s successor has the vision and necessary executive skills to take our internationally recognised body forwards, and Colt Mackenzie McNair, operating and advising many of the industries leading companies, clubs and associations, is perfectly placed to assist.”

Leading the search, Ian Timberlake, CMM’s Principal Consultant for Europe, added: “It is encouraging to see the GCMA Board of Management has recognised the importance of using external search and recruitment expertise to find its next leader. CMM’s networks, benchmarking processes and detailed selection procedures will ensure the next CEO of the GCMA is perfectly placed to lead this high-profile golf trade body.”

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) have opened up an office in London in order to resolve all legal disputes which may arise during the Olympic Games. 

The CAS ad hoc Division, impotent which was first introduced at the 1996 Atlanta Games, will provide all athletes in the Games with free access to justice.

CAS has promised that decisions will be within the time limits of the Games and the 12-strong panel of experts in sport’s law will be presided over by Judge Juan Torruella from Puerto Rico and Gunnar Werner from Sweden.

The panel will have two UK-based lawyers – Stuart McInnes and Graeme Mew – and the office will be headed up by Secretary General Matthieu Reeb.

Athletes who wish to register a dispute under Rule 59 of the Olympic Charter must do so with the London office of CAS, which will be based at the Grosvenor Hotel in Park Lane.

CAS will then appoint a three-person panel to adjudicate on decisions within 24 hours after hearing evidence from all those involved.

The ad hoc Division has been present at the Commonwealth Games, and at football’s European Championships and the World Cup.

English Rugby League club, asthma | Wakefield Trinity Wildcats have been granted planning permission to build a new 12, viagra 60mg 000 cappacity stadium.

The £19million development, stomach on the site of an old colliery just off junction 30 of the M62, was the subject of a two-week public inquiry in December following objections from residents and Leeds City Council.

The stadium will be owned by the Wakefield & District Community Trust but the Wildcats will become anchor tenants.

Phil Townsend, spokesman for Stadium Wakefield Action Group (SWAG) said: “I am over the moon.

“It has been eight years of hard graft, attending meetings, speaking with politicians and getting a 15,000 plus signature petition.

“We would wish to thank all of those people in Wakefield and beyond who have supported us.

“Our focus will now turn towards ensuring the delivery of the stadium and we believe that the proposal, led by Yorkcourt, will soon realise the dream we have held firm to throughout our campaign.”

A spokesman for the Wildcats said the stadium was expected to be complete in time for the 2015 season.

Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) announced today that Rugby World Cup 2011 was watched by more young people and females than any previous tournament, with a total increase of 60 per cent in hours viewed making it the most broadcast Rugby World Cup ever.

Rugby’s showcase event, hosted last year in New Zealand, recorded impressive overall broadcast figures as a cumulative audience of 3.9 billion in 750 million households across 207 territories were able to tune in to watch the most competitive tournament to date.

Significantly, viewership amongst the five-45 year age group increased by six per cent from 2007, while the audience gender spilt narrowed with females accounting for 45 per cent, up from 25 per cent for Rugby World Cup 1995.

The announcement is a further boost for a tournament that exceeded all commercial, ticketing and visitor projections as New Zealand’s stadium of four million welcomed the world with open arms to an exceptional event on and off the field. It is also a strong endorsement of SKY New Zealand’s exceptional production standards and commitment to delivering a broadcast spectacle.

RWCL Chairman Bernard Lapasset said: “We are delighted with these figures, which are an endorsement of the strong Rugby World Cup brand, our broadcast strategy comprising both free-to-air and satellite run in partnership with IMG, increased competitiveness on the field and a memorable and ultimately successful Rugby World Cup 2011. They also underscore the IRB’s mission to reach out to new and emerging markets such as USA, Brazil, Russia, China, India and Mexico, and grow Rugby beyond its traditional strongholds.”

“Rugby World Cup continues to go from strength to strength, reaching out to more men, women and children in new and existing Rugby markets around the world. Central to this growth has been a broadcast strategy that grows the profile and prestige of the RWC brand, while delivering strong revenues for the IRB to reinvest in the development of the Game worldwide. Approximately 60 per cent of RWC revenues are generated by broadcast.”

“We are in a highly-competitive sports and entertainment market and therefore it is particularly pleasing to see the average viewing age decreasing in line with our decision to fully embrace digital and social media platforms to engage with new fans and promote the tournament and Rugby worldwide.”

The expansion of hours viewed by 60 per cent from France 2007 reflects the ever diversifying methods of engaging with the tournament through on-demand, news access and digital platforms, including RWCL’s own daily digital highlights package that was available online and via the official tournament App, downloaded more than 3.5 million times.

The RWC 2011 Final was the most watched event in New Zealand TV history, attracting an incredible 98 per cent audience share. In France, the Final attracted the largest television audience for the calendar year with an average of 13.4 million viewers, a peak of 18.1 million and an audience share of 82 per cent despite the early kick-off in France. 73 per cent of France’s total population of 63 million people watched at least 15 minutes of RWC 2011 action.

In Australia, Fox Sport recorded the highest ever RWC Pay TV audience for the New Zealand v Australia semi-final, while in the UK the Wales v France semi-final recorded a 5.2 million audience average. The peak audience was recorded at 7.6 million for the England v Scotland quarter-final.

Mirroring Rugby’s continued penetration into emerging and new markets, Rugby World Cup 2011 saw increased audiences in Africa where the audience has grown by 250 per cent since 2007, in the Americas which increased by 56 per cent and 25 per cent in Asia where participation has also increased 18 per cent since Rugby World Cup 2007. Japan’s cumulative audience was just under 25 million as the country prepares to host the first ever Rugby World Cup in Asia in 2019.

Attention now turns to Rugby World Cup 2015 in England, which will be host broadcast by ITV, and a tournament that is poised to set new ticketing and attendance records. With Rugby breaking new broadcast territories, unprecedented interest in the sport and diversification of viewing trends across existing and new media platforms, the showcase tournament also looks set to reach out to more people through its broadcast platform.

England Rugby 2015 Chief Executive Paul Vaughan said: “It is great to see interest in the Game continually growing and these viewing figures highlight that Rugby is a sport that appeals to men and women of all ages. New Zealand put on a fantastic tournament and as we continue to build momentum ahead of the next Rugby World Cup in England in 2015 we will look to take advantage of the changing media landscape in order to connect with a growing audience and drive interest and excitement.”

With Bonfire night fast approaching, Man City’s controversial striker Mario Balotelli is the unlikely star in a firework safety campaign days after one was set off in his house leading to a fire.

Balotelli had to take evasive action to escape the blaze at his £3million ($4.8m) rented house the day before Manchester City’s dominating win at Old Trafford on Sunday.

Fire crews and police rushed to Balotelli’s five-bedroomed home in a select area of Cheshire after a blaze started when fireworks were let off in the bathroom at 1am on Saturday morning.

Reports have sugested Balotelli told club officials that he and four friends had been letting off fireworks through an open window at the house.

Bathroom towels were set on fire and the blaze spread but Balotelli has insisted that he did not cause the fire and that the offending firework was let off by his friends.

But this incident did not put him off from agreeing to front a safety campaign warning children of the dangers of fireworks ahead of the annual British festival of Guy Fawkes night on November 5.

“The newspapers got the story wrong about me and the fire at my house,” Balotelli was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying on Tuesday.

“I didn’t set any fireworks off, it was a friend of mine. I didn’t know anything about it until I heard the shouting coming from the bathroom.

“Luckily, nobody was injured, and my friend apologised to me for the damage to my house. It was a really stupid thing for him to do, someone could have been really hurt, and I was really, really angry with him about it.

“It is important message that children should not mess with fireworks. They can be very dangerous if they are not used in the right way. People should follow the firework code.”

Lotus Racing has announced that they are to return to their famous black and gold colour scheme of the 90’s for the 2011 F1 season.

Despite a dark cloud surrounding Tony Fernendes’s squad over naming rights for the team in 2011, they are pushing ahead with their plans and will run both cars under the same colour scheme of the John Player Special cars which will evoke so many memories.

To bring the fans even closer to the team in its second season Head of Marketing Silvi Schaumloeffel today explained how the 2011 livery will be designed: “We have worked all year to make sure our fans are given unprecedented access to our team. We are all very excited about the move to a black and gold paint scheme for next season, and we want our fans to help us design the livery that will be racing around the world next year. We will shortly be announcing exactly how the fans can take part in our design process. The person who designs the livery we finally choose will be joining us at our first test next year to see the car out on track for the very first time, so for Lotus and F1™ fans it is the chance of a lifetime to help us take the next step forward in our amazing story in 2011.”

Riad Asmat, Lotus Racing Chief Executive, added his thoughts on the next step in the Lotus Racing story: “When we first unveiled our 2010 car there was unanimous praise for our decision to bring the historic green and yellow livery back to the modern F1 grid. I know the return to the track of the legendary black and gold will be met with even more universal support as it strikes such an emotional chord with fans around the world. Giving those fans the chance to help us bring it back to the contemporary grid is true to our core belief of putting our supporters right at the heart of Lotus Racing – we can’t wait to show the world what we come up with!”

Premier motorsport body NASCAR have announced two new appointments today which they see as critical to their growth.

Peter Jung joins NASCAR as Senior Director of Growth Segment Marketing, abortion reporting into Managing Director of Brand and Consumer Marketing Kenny Mitchell. Jung, salve most recently from MasterCard International, allergy served as vice president of global consumer marketing, responsible for youth segment strategies and programs designed to drive a greater preference for the MasterCard brand. In this role, he oversaw the delivery of global consumer insights, innovation and marketing plans that supported youth segment priorities in the U.S. and several international markets. 

Jung led the launch of core consumer marketing platforms Priceless Surprises and Priceless Music, targeting millennials and other multicultural segments. He joined MasterCard in 2004 and has also held positions in partner marketing, strategy and planning. Jung graduated from the University of Dayton with a BA in Marketing and Communications. 

Nicole Smith will serve as Director of Growth Segment Marketing at NASCAR, reporting directly to Jung. Smith joins NASCAR from her most recent post at the San Diego Padres, where she served as Director of Brand Development. At the Padres, Smith was responsible for leading all marketing and branding activities with a focus on growing sales and attendance among key demographics including youth and multicultural segments. 

Smith previously worked at Hewlett-Packard where she explored international business models and the impact of digital innovation, and The Walt Disney Company, where she focused on marketing and branding initiatives. Smith holds a B.A. from UCLA and an MBA from the University of Michigan. 

“We are thrilled to welcome two new talented members to the NASCAR team,” said Vice President of Marketing Kim Brink. “Peter’s extensive background in global consumer marketing will provide further momentum for our ongoing marketing initiatives. In addition, Nicole will contribute invaluable expertise that will propel our millennial and youth outreach efforts forward.” 

Jung and Smith will be based in Daytona and begin work at NASCAR on April 22.