22 year old Vanessa Fernandes from Portugal is the current ITU World Champion and has already won more ITU World Cup events than any other person in history. She is a clear favorite for the upcoming Olympic Games in Beijing and she was kind enough to share a few of her thoughts.

Our series on race directing continues with a nod to the budget. What will your race cost? Here is a list of things you’ll not want to forget.

Eduardo Sturla had a convincing win and the fastest bike split at the Brazil Ironman Florianopolis 2008 after a relatively slow swim with two broken bones in his right hand. 44 year old Fernanda Keller won the women’s race on her home turf and will now return to Kona for the 21st consecutive time.

In front of an enthusiastic rain soaked home crowd, Javier Gomez won the 2008 Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup, the 200th in ITU history. With this victory he joined Brad Beven, Hamish Carter and Simon Whitfield as men with 10 World Cup titles to their names.

The 2007 World Champion Vanessa Fernandes of Portugal won the 2008 Madrid BG Triathlon World Cup and with it became the ITU all-time world cup win leader. The race was the 20th win for 22-year old Fernandes in just 31st World Cup starts.

Massimo Cigana caught long time race leader Björn Andersson in the last few hundred yards of the 2008 Ironman 70.3 Austria and earned the win with a very impressive run split. Yvonne Van-Vlerken took the title in the women’s race.

Bert Jammaer utilized a great swim, a very solid bike and a steady run to win the 2008 Ironman Lanzarote Canarias. Bella Comerford on the other hand had to use her magical running skills to reel in long time race leader Tara Norton enroute to winning the title in the women’s race.

In the old old days of cycling (when I was 25 or so), everything was made of steel and forged aluminum. Back then we needed torque wrenches. In today’s age of carbon, you really need a torque wrench.

Danish ITU athlete Rasmus Henning had a great season in 2007 and earned a nice $200,000 paycheck when he won the Hy-Vee race in Des Moines, IA. Rasmus already earned his ticket to Beijing and has his eyes now set completely on the Olympic prize.

Spencer Smith won the ITU World Championships in 1993 and 1994 and also has a couple of Ironman titles to his name. He has finished as high as 5th in Kona but more recently it has been fairly quiet around this charismatic athlete. A 3rd place at 70.3 Florida last weekend though showed that he is far from gone.

As part of our “industry athlete” series we wanted to know more about the background of Seton Claggett of trisports.com. Seton and his wife Debbie opened trisports.com in Tucson, AZ in 2000, but he did his first triathlon in 1989.

Jack Caress is the Chuck Norris of race directors. He has withstood the uppercuts and left hooks of national and world sports federations, delivering his own roundhouse kick to retain ownership of the L.A. Triathlon. Is a home gym infomercial next?

Race directors: getting media to cover your race is not as hard as you think. But, it takes forethought. And, you have to decide what that media means to you; how it can help you. It’s all explained here.

Reigning World Champ Stoltz and Canadian McQuaid take on 97-degree temps, a tough course and tougher field to defend their Temecula titles as best in the West.

Chris Lieto showed that he is very competitive at any distance as he won the 2008 Columbia Triathlon in Columbia, Maryland despite a very competitive field. Rebecca Wassner led wire to wire and took the victory in the women’s race.

Paul Amey won the 2008 Ford Ironman 70.3 Florida thanks in part to a very impressive bike split and a somewhat expected solid run. The women’s event was won by Leanda Cave who had to battle Dede Griesbauer most of the day.

Like many of us, Mike Pigg was inspired to race triathlons when he watched Dave Scott win the 1983 Ironman on TV. Unlike most of us though, the man who would soon be known as Pigg Power managed to finish 7th overall at that event 2 years later.

Ryan Barnett’s surgery apparently went better than the doctors had anticipated. No damage to his spinal cord was detected and doctors inserted a titanium plate in his back, running from T1 to T6. They hope to have him starting his rehab sessions as early as tomorrow!

The Dutch Masters (the bike makers, not the cigar makers) have struck again. The Ventus is a tri bar to be taken seriously: not just as eye candy atop the P3Cs ridden by Cancellara and the CSC team.

Janda Ricci-Munn had a tough setback in 2007 but closed out his season as the fastest age grouper at 70.3 Worlds in Clearwater and a top 20 finish overall. He has announced that he has turned professional for 2008 and confirmed that he’ll actually quit one of his other day jobs.

After entering the TT world pitching the Plasma as “superlight,”, Scott is adding a new focus: aerodynamics. Here’s Adrian Montgomery with details on the new Plasma 2.

I know what you’re thinking: “This has to be the hardest task facing a race promoter.” Yes, you’re right. But it doesn’t have to be. Just invest in a little creative thinking, and you’ll find that getting lucrative sponsors is not that hard.

Frederic Belaubre won the 2008 European Triathlon Championships and thus earned his 3rd European title in 4 years. Vanessa Fernandes was victorious in the women’s race and now has won a record 5 titles, and that is not even counting her U23 and Junior crowns.

Mike Neill won the 2008 edition of the Gulfcoast Triathlon in Panama City Beach, Florida and narrowly defeated Zach Ruble. The women’s pro title was snagged by Gabriela Loskatova, but the fastest time of the day belonged to age grouper Amy Kloner from Atlanta, Ga.