We are Team Freespeed, the race team of London bike fit studio Freespeed (www.freespeed.co.uk), was formed in the run up to Kona 2010. The team has big plans for the 2011 season and beyond and is delighted to announce partnerships that will help to support the continued success of the team.

Virgin Active will be the team headline sponsor. Virgin Active is committed to triathlon – it is the title sponsor of the London Triathlon, the largest triathlon in the world - and is the perfect partner for the team.

Team Freespeed Virgin Active are part of Virgin Active’s efforts to promote triathlon to their gym communities – digital campaigns, blogs, workshops and race appearances are all on the schedule to support this mission. The team will use Virgin Active gyms as training bases and will rely on the great pool at the Fulham club for their swim training.

In addition to the headline sponsor, Virgin Active, we are really pleased to be supported by:

Skinfit - Race kit/technical clothing
Sailfish - G Range wetsuit/swim accessories
Compressport - Compression wear
Clif Bar - Nutrition products
For Goodness Shakes - Recovery nutrition
Blue Competition Cycles - Team race bikes
Prologue Bikes - Servicing of team race bikes

Team Freespeed Virgin Active consists of four triathletes pushing the boundaries of amateur racing while holding down full-time jobs. The team has some great results including:

Tim Bishop: First British age grouper at Lanzarote and Western Australia 2010
Declan Doyle: Four-time Kona finisher and first Irish age grouper at Kona 2010
Jenny Gowans: Winner of Norseman Extreme Triathlon 2008 and age group winner at Ironman races in 2007-2010.

and me

Stuart Anderson: First British age grouper at Kona in 2008 and 2010

We each raced twice over the Virgin Active London Triathlon weekend, once in the VIP relay with teams featuring Richard Branson, Nell McAndrew and Stacey Solomon, and later in the individual races.

The season has started well for the team with overall age group wins at Ironman UK 70.3, mixed team winners at HellRider Duathlon and Las Vegas and Kona qualification. Races on the 2011 team schedule include Challenge Copenhagen, 70.3 World Championships in Las Vegas, Ironman World Championships in Kona, Ironman Cozumel and Ironman Wales.

Virgin Active London Triathlon also went well for the Team, Jenny won the Sprint on Saturday and The Olympic Plus on Sunday. I came third in the Sub 2.30 elite Olympic distance age group race, with Tim just behind me in 4th.

Next up Tim in Challenge Copenhagen... Go Tim!!

Freespeed Dominate - UK 70.3 Wimbleball June 2011

For the first time this season all four of the Freespeed team athletes were down to race at the same event, Ironman UK 70.3. Having been to Devon to practice the course a month ago the decision was taken to combine the race with a camping trip in the beautiful Wimbleball countryside. This looked to be a flawed decision on arrival as 24 hours of torrential rain had left the fields and surrounding roads in a state that had everyone questioning their choice of carbon race wheels.

As luck would have it the rain and wind subsided during Saturday night and clear and chilly conditions greeted the 1600 athletes as they made their way into the freezing lake.

Stuart Anderson Sailfish G Range


This was a good test for the new team Sailfish G Range wetsuits and good swims by the three boys saw them come out of the water ahead of the team fish, Jenny – she’ll get her own back at a future race for sure. In the meantime, all four were on the bike and pushing hard. Stu quickly made it to the front of the age group field and comfortably stayed there until T2, coming off the bike side by side with one other athlete. Dec had worked his way through the field into a good position to attack the run and Tim was well placed in the 40-44 age group. Jen meanwhile was inside the top ten overall, loving her brand new Blue Triad SL and holding a position 3 minutes down on the first female age grouper, Tracy Cook.

Stuart Anderson


Jenny Gowans Blue Triad SL


Once on the run, Stu stormed to victory in the amateur race and 8th overall holding a gap of never more than 30 seconds to the chasing athlete in second place. Dec ran through to 4th place amateur and Tim kept it strong to take the third spot on his age group podium. Jen was struggling to make an impact on Tracy Cook who still held a two minute gap with three miles to go but a late surge brought her to the line in first place and a double amateur race win for Team Freespeed. A dream result and hundred per cent success rate for the team at the awards ceremony.

Jenny Gowans


Tim Bishop



Declan Doyle


Next up was the World Championship roll down and needless to say all four picked up their slots to Las Vegas in September and can’t wait to get out there and race the best in the world.



Team Freespeed Compressport

All of the above wouldn’t have been possible without our sponsors and it was a lot of fun to spend time with Tim from Compressport over the weekend – he was also celebrating some great results in the pro ranks. All four of the team are genuinely surprised at how good their legs are feeling in the days after the race.





New race kit from Skinfit has now arrived and custom design training kit is in production – exciting times with a major sponsorship announcement to be made in the next week or so.