ITU is kicking up again

Somehow lost in all the triathlon buzz is the fact that we Americans have a kick ass Olympic team that races globally in what is called ITU (International Triathlon Union) races. ITU is the governing system for international or Olympic distance races and athletes which culminate in the summer Olympics.

Some names you may have heard of that are on the team include, Hunter Kemper and Andy Potts.

One that is not as well known is a friend of Mistress and by extension myself, named Joe Umphenour who has been living at OTC, the Olympic training center in Colorado Springs and training on the Gold team for six years. He and Mistress were on the same swim team back in jr. high and remained friends since. Joe has been ranked as high as 2nd American triathlete and 26th ranked in the world. He is a bundle of energy, hard to sit down, even harder to e-mail with; but just the nicest man. Joe made the first Olympic team but due to an injury was unable to accept the position. The second Olympics also found him injured after a grueling year of racking up enough points to make the team and NBC toyed with using him as a color-man since he knows so much about all the triathlete's competing, but they ultimately went the safe route. Joe in the past has been elected the pro-athlete liaison between USAT and race directors, with duties covering course layouts, course safety and general promotional duties. Similar to a union rep I suppose. As a veteran of the team he continually mentors U-23 and other triathlete's new to the OTC in Colorado. I have the privilege of a few times a year getting his quarterly update on his training and races in foreign countries.

A press release from USAT says that this year the Gold Team will travel to Australia for their boot camp instead of the OTC in Chula Vista (Southern California) and participate in the first ITU of the year there as their wrap up.

This will be my third year of posting Joe's successes and travels as they come across the radar. If you have an interest in trying out for the Olympic team, the ITU/USAT sponsored team or a local ITU triathlete click HERE