BEHIND THE SCENES
BEHIND THE SCENES AT OUR COVER SHOOT WITH ALI AND JONNY BROWNLEE, ALONGSIDE A HOST OF TOP WORLD TRIATHLETES. DID SOMEONE SAY CAKE?
The date is 10 June, the day after the UK World Triathlon Series race. The venue? A studio on the outskirts of Leeds, where the 220 team are waiting with a photographer, a table full of party props and a lot of cake. The reason? It’s 30 years since a small team of tri enthusiasts came up with the idea of launching this mag and to celebrate, we’ve hatched a plan with our friends at Huub Design to invite some of the world’s top triathletes to celebrate with us…
HENRI SCHOEMAN
South Africa’s Henri Schoeman chats about his plans for the year while we photograph him, which include a schedule full of WTS and Superleague races – and planning a wedding no less. “Me and Fran are getting married at home in South Africa,” he tells us, “and luckily the race schedule has fallen so I have a month between the last Super League race and the wedding day, so that’s cool!”.
CASPER AND KRISTIAN
Norwegian pros Casper Stornes and Kristian Blummenfelt arrive fresh from a morning recovery run along the Leeds towpath (where 220’ s Ed was also out running and got swiftly lapped by them). They both relishished the technical nature of the Leeds course the previous day. Other favourite races? “Hamburg, for sure,” says Kristian. “But I also think the Worlds in Lausanne are going to be epic.”
TOM BISHOP
GB’s Tom Bishop pops in to wish us all the best and recalls his earliest memories of 220: “When we were younger me and my twin bro David actually obsessed over reading up on the World Cup reviews and looking at the new bikes and kit. I even remember David making a collage of our tri heroes! It’s a great magazine, all the best for the future.”
GEORGIA AND JESS
GB’s Georgia Taylor-Brown and Jess Learmonth arrive in a flurry of activity, fresh from their podium appearances on home turf the previous day. They’re both still on cloud nine and appear just ahead of an ITV film crew which halts photography proceedings to interview them for the evening news slot. We break out the cake for the girls, who light it and blow out the candles for us: “First time I’ve eaten cake in a wetsuit, though!” Jess laughs.
ELLIOT SMALES
Ironman pro Elliot Smales arrives having recently placed third at Ironman 70.3 Staffs – but fears he’s fighting a niggling cold. We give him a huge chunk of cake to cheer him up and as he sits on the floor to munch it, talk turns to his frankly epic haircut… “When you race,” we wonder, “does it flow out behind you...?” “No,” replies Elliot with an amused smile. “Because I wear a cap when I race…”
ALI AND JONNY
Ali and Jonny Brownlee arrive each bearing a boxfresh Agilis wetsuit – the suit they designed alongside Huub and now race in. The boys are in high demand the day after the race and pressed for time, but they’re in no rush and politely accept a mug of tea each (Yorkshire, of course). Ali adds a slice of cake and eats it while reading a copy of issue 1 of 220 which we have on set, although Jonny wryly declines, as he’s still feeling a bit fragile after suffering tummy troubles the day before in the race.
Tea and cake break done and it’s time for the shoot, which sees the boys gamely getting stuck into the weird and wonderful 220 world of party hats, balloons, gold streamer cannons and flying cakes. Our shoot time is over far too quickly though, and the boys wave a cheery goodbye before heading out into the rainy Yorkshire evening.