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Firstly a quick apology for the site being down for a couple of days. Our server had a major problem and the engineers had to work 24/7 to fix it.

A massive well done to Danny Watson and Chris Gibbs for doing 10080 Pull ups and Dips in 24 hours and raising over £3000 for the Help for Heroes charity.

On another note, we have taken on board a lot of feedback over the last few weeks on how best we can improve the numbers of people competing. We can now let you know of the new initiative that we are hoping will do just this. Firstly a new ladder system will be started. Click here to find out more on the Ranking page. Your position on the ladder will be your ranking. We are also introducing the 'Majors'. A select group of events that hopefully everyone will aspire to entering and ones that we can heavily promote with future our future sponsor partners. There is still room for more Majors and organisers wanting to benefit from our promotional activity can get in contact with us. More details are on the Majors page.

Full Splits and all results are now up for the Hampshire event, so if you want to cross reference how you are doing against everyone else have a look at the results page

The Hampshire Cross training event results are now up. Congratulations to Ty for putting on yet another well run event and also for helping to raise over £1500 for the Help the Heroes charity.

First place in the Men's Open went to Chris Lord who is beginning to look unbeatable. The fastest run of the day in the Individual open was done by newcomer Richard Vint, who came second. He was running at around 17 most of the way. Richard looks as though he has put in some serious upper body work since the Octathalon and could well be a force to reckon with in the future. Another newcomer Vito Graffagnino was lying in second place up to the Bench press but that let him down and he slipped back into 4th place. With a little more work, he too will become difficult to beat. Unfortunately both Ben Stroud and Nick Kandola were unable to do the Individual this year, however they might have found it tough to beat Les Barrow who came third and Jason King who came 4th. The standard is definitely going up in cross training. This also applies to the Men's Masters where Paul Morton put in an almost unbelievable performance coming 1st and 4th overall with an impressive run averaging 15 all the way.

In the women's event Jacqui Macquisten outperformed her rivals in nearly all exercises with the fastest times in seven of them to come first in a sub 20min time nearly 50secs faster than all her rivals. Sarah Deed came in with a creditable 2nd place and having put in the fastest women's run time on the day.

The team event at the end is always a great spectacle at Hampshire with 3 people in a team, all eyes expected the Royal Marine team to walk away with the cup, however they had not reckoned with the Prison Break team who kept their participants quiet until the race itself. With a line up that included Danny Watson Vito Graffagnino and Ben Stroud, they demanded respect from the outset and took a lead going into the shoulders. Danny Watson put in a flawless shoulder press and maxed out th run on 20kph all the way and then proceeded to do the bench press in one. There was nothing Chris Lord could have done to catch him up. Excellent racing and spectator enjoyment was followed by the fun of an evening party & disco with the guest appearance of the Village People. See photos below. Any other caption suggestions on the forum please.

On another note, many discussions were held regarding the future of ranking systems and ladders and we have now formulated a plan going forward that should really generate more and more interest in the sport. We will be announcing this all on this site in the next few days.

Prison Break team with Danny Watson (Left) Ben Stroud (Centre) Vito Graffagnino (Right)

Royal Marine team of Les Barrow (Left) Chuck Berry (Centre) Chris Lord (Right)

Ty Whitlock has just sent us the race line up details for the Hampshire event next week end. Click on the line up link or go via the calendar to see who is racing who.

Ty would also like to thank all the competitors that have entered this years Hampshire Fire Xmas Cracker and says it promises to be a great event with close races. The line up has allowed for 7-8 minute intervals....however he forsees the challenge as finishing earlier than expected, so he urges all competitors to be ready to race at the correct time.

We would like to also add that it is a fantastic line up with some cracking races to watch. It is great to see nearly all the top cross trainers turning up which is a great credit as well as some good competitors from this years Octathalon having a go at it. We would see that credit has to go for this to Ty for putting on such well run events every year and for producing an excellent well thought out course.

If anyone would like to order a 2009 Octathalon Calendar, we will be bringing a sample down to the Hampshire event for people to see.

Plenty of people have now contacted us regarding the ladder system with their ideas - thanks. We have included many of these into what are now our current thoughts. We thought it would be a good idea to explain some of them so that it might help any discussions had after the Hampshire event.

1. Fundamentally, we need to encourage more people into the sport. Numbers attract sponsors and sponsors are needed to fund the growth of the sport.

2. Currently many of the events are what we would consider to be on the extreme side. Some of these distinctly by design. Whilst there is a market for these, if we are to look at other sporting models, all the extreme forms are associated with, if not supported by, a much larger, less extreme, sporting base. For example, the Triathlon has many more participants worldwide than its more extreme version - the Ironman. Many more people seem then to aspire only to do the Triathlon and to race and succeed in just that race. A few do move up to the Ironman, but many choose not to. We feel, rightly or wrongly, that we need a similar counterpart in cross training which is one of the reasons we devised the Octathalon. Some of you might consider that an Intermediate version of an extreme event is sufficient, however we do not think that is very saleable to someone who does not see the extreme version as right for them or their goal, especially not if there is pressure to move up because of constant wins at Intermediate level.

3. Because of the above, we do not feel it right to create a ranking system that could be seen to create both internal and external pressure on people into doing the more extreme events if they might not want to do them. There ought to be choice. With only a few events in the calendar, there is even less choice and, because of the extreme nature of some of them, we do not this as a particularly effective way at increasing the numbers of people coming into the sport. In fact over the years we have seen the opposite as events have tended to become even more extreme and we know of people who have dropped out because of that.

4. Organising good events also takes a lot of time and effort and we are not seeing many new organisers, so we need to devise a way where competition can be seen and had more often, both locally and more regularly. It would also be good to see more changes to the rankings over the year, more than just at the times when events take place. Head to head races in a gym with visiting competitors, rather like home and away squash matches, could possibly achieve this. Local ladders in clubs could also be encouraged as a precursor to getting on to Regional ladders and then onto a National ladder.

5. Everyone would be on a local ladder, those wishing to travel and compete Regionally can also then be on a Regional Ladder - perhaps North and South UK. Then if any of those people on one of these ladders wished to also travel further, compete more, they could also be on a National Ladder.

6. We also like the idea of people challenging each other to race over a choice of selected courses and even having one option where the two, or more parties could agree on a particular design of course between themselves. We would even be able to promote these on this site and report on the times and outcomes and changes to the ladder placings.

7. We also see the Octathalon as integral to building and growing the numbers in the sport by providing that base and, as such, we are suggesting that in between the cross training events, people should also be able to challenge each other, either at a Local, Regional or National level on one of the Octathalon or Ultra-Octathalon courses. (Or indeed by the self design course option). This is something that sponsors appear to be interested in working with us on. All competitors need to do is to agree which option to go with. The rules on this are something that could be debated further, but we would reason that the local ladder events held open to challenges on the Club Octathalon course.

8. We, along with sponsors, would be looking to encourage trainers and club members to start head to head racing, in the format of the challenger going first, with the higher placed (on the ladder) person being challenged, going afterwards. We see this as a much easier thing to arrange, and get buy in, at a local level rather than a fully fledged event for many people.

We might also then see that, in the clubs where are only one or two competing cross trainers, there might be more who could become interested, even if it is only at the local ladder level.

If anyone would like to add comment to this, please email us on rory@ukxta.co.uk or see us at the Hampshire event.

From the sounds of things, the Gorton Grueller event went very well with some close racing. Well done to Ben Stroud for coming 1st and Ross Down for coming 2nd. Also well done to Beccy Nicolas for coming in just seconds ahead of Sarah Deed in the Women's race.

There does potentially appear to be a small drop off in numbers of people competing, so we have introduced a new scheme to perhaps offset this. To do this though we are dropping the old ranking system, which we believe has seen its day and was very successful at its start in keeping cross training going a few years ago when it was going through a bad patch. For similar reasons and wanting to not only keep it going, but to grow it more we have decided to introduce a UKXTA ladder system.

There is no doubt that the Octathalon has more successfully introduced, and re-introduced more top people to the sport than any other venture in the last few years, and for that reason we need to ensure these people get good racing throughout the year to keep them interested and challenged. So aside from the new ladder system, we are looking to run another competition next year early on - The 'Ultra-Octathalon' . More details will come out about that as soon as we can give them to you. Essentially though it will be a time trial over a longer course with lighter weights and more reps and we will also be having a mixed pairs event to add to the fun where partners can come from anywhere.

In the meantime though, the new ladder system should ensure more fun with your racing and it should get more people travelling to events. For more details, click on the UK Ranking lists page

We will be at the Hampshire event and will hopefully be able to tell you more about the plans and to answer your questions at that time.

We are still incredibly busy working on all these things, so please bear with us with items like the photos from the Octathalon event. There are some great pictures and we will send you them, if you like any of them, after we have put them up on the site.

The Octathalon Results are now up on the www.octathalon.com website. More photos and time splits will follow. Congratulations to Chris Lord who is now the new Octathalon Champion and World Record Holder. In one of the most thrilling final races ever, he came from 3rd place to beat Cassius Frankson, last years champion, Ben Stroud, who came 2nd and Ross Down who came third. Racing this year was better and closer than ever with great judging from the Royal Marine PTI's from Poole and the RAF PTI's from Lyneham.

Jacqui Macquisten won the Women's Cup with Trudi Hawksworth coming second and Marie Mitchell 3rd and Amber Anderson coming 4th. The men's Cup pairs was again hotly contested with the Scottish lads James King and Alex Woods, just pipping Essex's Nik Kandola and Jason King at the line. Rick Fenton and Nick Bone from Lancashire came third. Winners of the Women's Cup pairs were Marie Mitchell and Trudi Hawksworth. The Junior winner was Connell Macquisten who won having to beat others who were two years older than him. The Men's Club event was won by Doug Harrison

Ty Whitlock has just sent us application forms and rules for his Fire Cross Training event this year. Either click on the calendar and then again on the event or go direct to the event page on the link below. This event is always over subscribed and there are lots of new Octathletes looking for more events to do so get your entries in quick.

Ty has also asked us to mention the following:- There will be a party after the event - this will be smart casual and start around 1930hrs to Midnight at a cost of £7.50 to include disco and Buffet. He has the club for the evening and he has a few people promoting this and as such he expects there will be a good turnout. He also mentions that his son is now in the forces, serving in Afghanistan and that he is supporting the Help for Heroes Charity this year and all profits will go that way.

Race details are now up for the Hampshire Fire Cross training event in December. Just click on the link for details or go via the calendar. Application forms will follow shortly. Looks like another cracker with similar event format as previous years. As the longest standing event in the calendar, it has become very popular and as it is one of the few events the UKXTA fully endorses, you will need to get your entries in soon to avoid disappointment.

Less than two weeks to go before the Octathalon Cup starts again. Spectators are very welcome to come along, it is free to watch and, this year, with an unprecedented line up, you will be guaranteed some very close and exciting racing. The Fit Brit event was held last weekend and first and second place in the Men's event went to Cassius Frankson and Richard Vint, both of whom are racing the Octathalon. For a full line up of all the racing and who is competing check out www.octathalon.com

Photos from the Royal Marine event are now up on this site. Either follow this link or go via the calendar. A short report on the day is also on the same page. We met many new and old friends on the day and many competitors who expressed a desire to do more events which is great news. In fact we are now of the opinion that there will soon become a time next year when there will be more people wanting to compete than we have events and it is something we, as the UK cross training association, and the Organisers will have to address. We will be announcing a new initiative about this shortly after speaking to the Organisers of the major events and after obtaining their input and support should they choose to do so.

In the meantime, the Marines, not content with the amount of energy put into last Wednesday, have come up with another challenge for themselves. They are going to row the Atlantic! Well not literally - they will be rowing the equivalent distance on Concept 2 rowers all for charity :-

Chuck Berry, Les Barrow and Chris Lord will be starting the indoor row of the Atlantic on Sunday 21/09/08, 12 marines will be rowing around the clock until Thursday lunchtime to complete the 2400km or 1490 miles - the distance of an Atlantic crossing. They will row in pairs using 2 concept 2 rowers in a one hour on : 5 hour off routine. Each man will complete 12,750 meters an hour to hit the target. If you are reading this, this is a cry for support for the charity they are doing it for. Click on the link to find out more and please give generously as this is going to hurt them all over. Sponsorship can be given at www.justgiving.com/tonycreaney also info on the 2 charities and event are on this address.

Octathalon news on who's in and who's not will be up on the www.octathalon.com website on Sunday pm tomorrow. If you think your Invitation is not going to get here on time, you had better email us. Those on the reserves list will be contacted by Monday.

The Royal Marines have now found their fittest man. The organisers of the Royal Marines cross training challenge, Andy Cureton and Chuck Berry, put on an impeccable first event and set new standards that all subsequent organisers of cross training events will find hard to follow.

The event, sponsored well by Technogym, had a course that was short by cross training standards (the winning time was 16 mins and 25 secs) but tough as you might expect - 40 reps Bench press at 50kg after a 800m run on 6% had them all straining at the end. In fact from the UKXTA point of view we felt that the nature of the course was one of the best we have come across in ages, albeit tweaked up to a level of difficulty more typical of the RM standard of fitness. No changes will be made to the ranking list as this was a closed and internal event just for the Marines.

There is so much more to tell about this great event and we will in the next few days along with more photos.

In the meantime we are delighted to announce that the UK's fittest Royal Marine is

Entries for the 2008 Power Horse UK National Championships are closed. We have had more entries than ever before and the cut off times are much lower because of it. We are also sorry that some of you will not be able to make it into the event this year because of that.

It is also great to have several new names appearing on the start line. This bodes well for cross training and the Octathalon sport. We will now be checking a few of the verified times and then sending out invitations to those who were successful at getting in.

To give you an idea of how competitive we think this event is going to be, we estimate that around 8 Octathletes will break the 10 min barrier in the Men's Open Cup event. There is around 10 secs separating all of the top Men's Masters and the Women's Cup is looking the toughest it has ever been. We know of intense training going on for the Men's Cup pairs event with Nik Kandola and Jason King desperately wanting to win their title back from James King and Alex Wood, but a new Royal Marine team may disappoint them both.

The Women's Cup and Club pairs still have a couple of places free and room on the reserve list, so we are holding entries open for these events for another week. if you interested please contact us ASAP on rory@ukxta.co.uk

All in all it looks as though it is going to be a great event to watch and participate in.

The entry details are now up on the calendar for the 2008 Gorton Grueller. Jut click on the links. This is one of the events we would term extreme - have a look at the course for yourself.

Help is needed for the 2008 Power Horse Octathalon championships. If you would like to help out at the event, please contact us via the www.octathalon.com website. We would be able to offer reasonable pay for the day.

The UKXTA Ranking lists have now been updated after the Rochdale event. There have been several changes as some of the newer, more regular, cross training competitors have been doing well at events. There are three new Elite Men's open Cross trainers. Congratulations to Danny Watson, Alex Wood and Les Barrow. In the Men's Master, a real improvement in Andy Ashurst's performances have allowed him into the top ten and he also becomes Elite status. In the Women's Open Jo Holloway also make Elite status. This should make it even easier for organisers to get their events ranking as Regional or National events as there are now more Elite status cross trainers who are available. This will mean that there will likely be more points up for grabs at the next few events. Competitor status pages have also been updated.

Some photos are now up from the Swindon Octathalon. Just click here to get taken there. Apologies if I missed any. A few more are up on the www.octathalon.com site as well. All the results for the Swindon and Gorton Octathalons will be up after the qualifying period ends at the end of August. Although we have more than enough entries for the event, we are sure that there are more people out there that could do faster times and could possibly get in.

If you fail to send in a qualifying time by the deadline, you will only have yourself to blame if you miss out on getting a place. Aside from those of you that have told us they cannot make the event, there still appear to be a few of the other currently competing top cross trainers who might appear to be 'wimping out' of what will be one of the greatest sporting events in the cross training scene ever. We have 4 people we now know can do under 10 mins for the event ! It promises to be a truly exciting spectacle and one any serious cross trainer will really want to be part of.

You have been warned, you have around 2 weeks to get your qualifying times in!

What a great weekend of sport we've just had for cross trainers and many thanks to Farouk Vawda for giving us the news today from Saturdays event. The Dale Destroyer yesterday was a great success with a first win for Alex Woods in the Men's Open and Penny Bunton in the Women's Open as well as reports of some really close racing. Ranking list will be updated soon.

Today we also had a tremendous event down in the Fitness First gym in Swindon West with some incredible performances from Cassius Frankson and Ben Stroud. Vito Graffagnino also put in a terrific first event run through, but was slightly off par today with his time. We know he has done far faster in practice so he too could still be challenging for the Cup in October. Anyone else who wants to be in the picture now needs to step up to the plate as the Power Horse Octathalon Championships are beginning to look pretty tasty.

Lloyd Millichap brought a great bunch of guys and gals down to the event and came away as the Club team winners - Well done to you all. Photos will be up soon and all the times and splits will be up after the qualifying period ends at the end of August.

Farouk - well done for competing on Saturday and Sunday. We will have to start a prize for most events done in a year soon.

The deadline for entering the Dale Destroyer event has been extended to the 30th of July. So a message to all you keen cross trainers out there is to get in and have a go at an event that is one of the more different ones on the cross training scene - we are sure you will enjoy it. Entry details are via our calendar.

On another note, we have heard that there is pressure being put on some event organisers to either remain independent or to join up with a third party under the remit that this would promote cross training. The UKXTA would like to say two things on this.

Firstly it recognises that the main drivers to cross training are the event organisers, the personal trainers and the cross trainers themselves - not web companies. The sport grows through good, well run events, with good sensible courses, that are backed by personal trainers and their members. We believe that good personal recommendation is the driver to growing cross training.

Secondly, we would like to reassert our own position that we will continue to freely support all good cross training events and to promote these to all the people we attract into our sport via the Octathalon. We consider this to be the best way forward. There are a limited number of hardworking event organisers, who do this often with no financial returns, and it is difficult to find more. This means there is a finite number of events and places in events. If the numbers in the sport were to grow with this situation, it would be become harder and harder to get into some events. The way forward must be by making it financially more worthwhile for personal trainers in gyms to run events. Event entry fees will not achieve this as it is not possible for cross training to be a mass entry sport on the day. Whether you agree with what we are doing or not, our plan is to put these things in place with the Octathalon becoming a major sport - one that produces the income for those that work to promote it and run events. It stands to reason that, with the increase in participants, there will still be cross training events - in fact more will pop up as the Octathalon becomes more and more popular so there will be an increasing variety of cross training events that the UKXTA will continue to endorse, or not, and then promote to its members.

A free approach to the future is what we would like to see. This is why we created the UKXTA ranking system in the way that it is - points available at an event is dependent on the event organiser's ability to attract the best cross trainers. This cross training association will continue to represent its participants and look to their best interests.

What a fantastic event last weekend up at Gorton. The local hospitality and the generosity in the help everyone gave made the whole day very enjoyable. The racing that day was excellent, close as well as having a slightly different feel to it. Teams came from clubs in the area and many people lined up to race people they did not even know which gave the racing a real extra degree of tension. The one area of success the UKXTA is having at the moment is its ability to bring new people into the sport of cross training with the Octathalon

The winning team will not be announced just yet, nor will the times and the splits as we still have other qualifiers to do and it would be unfair to release these times as it may disadvantage them. We will be handing the winning team coaches their cups, one for the Northern team competition and one for the Southern team competition, at the UK Power Horse Octathalon Championships in October.

Having said that, there were some really fast times and if any of the competitors would like their individual times and splits, just email us and we will send you them. After the qualifying time period ends at the end of August all these times will be put up on the tables on the www.octathalon.com website.

In the meantime, have a look at the photo gallery of the event. More pictures are also up in the photo galleries of the www.octathalon.com website. If any of the competitors would like their own pictures sent to them, just contact us by email and we will send them on.

The next event is at Rochdale - the Dale Destroyer. Certainly a cross training event with a difference in that it starts with the treadmill. That could produce some interesting results. Again lets hope it attracts the top cross trainers so that more Ranking Points are up for grabs. It could well turn out to be quite a popular course because it is different.

The day after that is the second time trial for the Octathalon down in Swindon where teams will also be competing for the Power Horse Octathalon Team Cup as well as individuals coming from all around to put in fast enough qualifying times. Our successful advertising is drawing more and more interest in our sport and the Free Octathalon taster sessions are flying out with numbers over 250 as we type now.

News of the first ever Royal Marines Cross Training event has just reached us and it is fantastic news. Invitations have been sent out to Marines everywhere to compete for the new title of 'The Fittest Royal Marine'. The event will be run by two seasoned cross trainers who have been doing cross training competitions themselves for over 10 years!!!! - Chuck Berry & Andy Cureton. This will ensure a tremendous event. The downside though for all you keen cross trainers is that it is only for the Royal Marines and not open to anyone else. Maybe next year?

However, that should not put you off trying your own run through of the course which has now been newly named 'The Commando Course'

The Commando Course', not to be confused with any courses held at CTC. Devon, nor any outdoor terrain obstacle courses they also run, is also one of the best new courses seen in cross training as well as being testing and challenging. It is a time trial event, with competitors doing the course once, with the person doing the fastest time winning. Details of the course can be seen via the UKXTA calendar. We particularly like the novelty of starting with a Row, whilst still finishing with the now standard of cross training - a CV exercise followed by a weights exercise - in this case an 800m run on 6% and, for the Men, a 40 rep bench press with a massive 50kg weight (Well they are Marines - what else would you expect). Any Marine seeing this will also find entry details up on the site via the link on the UKXTA calendar.

Full results and a race report will only be found on the UKXTA website following the event which will be held at the Royal Marine Commando base at Lympstone in Devon on the 10th September 2008. The event is also sponsored by Technogym, who have already kitted out the camp with their equipment.

One last bit of news is that the UKXTA, via the World Octathalon Association, have arranged for the winner of this prestigious new event to have a free Wild Card entry into the UK Power Horse National Championships this year, which will be held 4 weeks later at the Olympiad Leisure Centre in Chippenham.

We promise to keep you posted as soon as we have more news on who has entered and who is looking favourite. In the meantime why not have a go on the course yourself.

For those of you in the North of the UK looking for something else to train for in the next few days, look no further than the next event at Gorton Fitness First Gym - The Octathalon Time Trials and the Club team event. We have had several entries so far, with room for a just few more. Just email us the application forms you can find on the www.octathalon.com website. It may be the shortest cross training course, but still one of the toughest to do well.

On another note we just have to mention a great new film that has just come out - go and see 'Wanted' with Angelina Jolie and Morgan Freeman. The words POWER, ENERGY & DRINK come to mind. What a way to go.

The UKXTA ranking lists and the competitor status pages have now been updated after the last event, however there were few changes as some of the top cross trainers could not, or decided not, to make the event so there were not that many points up for grabs.

The Octathalon Cup event this year is set to attract loads of attention with adverts now out in the latest Men's Fitness magazine and the next Ultra-Fit magazine. We are expecting many more people to try to qualify this year so the message we need to get to you all is to get your qualifier forms in very quickly to beat the deadlines. For those of you with times from last years event, you can use these, or alternatively, you can try to put in faster ones - either by doing one of the two qualifying events or with your local gym instructor witnessing you. No money is needed for these qualifier forms - just email us the completed word document which is available on the www.octathalon.com website. There will be no late entries this year and plenty of reserves waiting to see if they can get a place, so if you get a fast enough time, you will need to get your invitation and entry fee back in quickly.

It is probably going to be the best cross training event ever with new names from other sports who will probably come along in an extremely fit state. However, we suspect they do not have a hope against our top ranked athletes.

If there are any Juniors out there that fancy their chances, you better get training as well as all the local schools in Chippenham are putting in their top Octathalon Champions.

Suunto will again be there with their technology and the finals and semifinals will all have heart rates displayed for all to see.

Another opportunity has now arisen for those of you in the South of the UK and who are unable to get to the Rochdale event on the 9th August and the Octathalon Time trials in Gorton on the 13th July. We have arranged for a second Octathalon time trial to occur on the Sunday 10th August down at Fitness First in Swindon West. It is a great venue with loads of room and we will be running 2 lanes and a team event for the local clubs in the area. If cross trainer wants to come and get a qualification time there for this years championships you will be more than welcome. Not only is the entry only £10, the minimum qualifying entry into the main event will hold if you are successful at entering.

We have loads of advertising going out this year for the Power Horse event and are hoping to attract many more people to our sport.

For those of you who would like a taste of the Octathalon and a chance to enter this years Power Horse Octathalon Championships, we are now holding a time trial on the 13th July at the Gorton Fitness First Gym. More details will follow on the www.octathalon.com website. Limited places but free Power Horse tasting sessions will be going on to keep you thirst quenched and energy levels up. The two fastest will go head to head in the last race of the day.

The results are now available from the recent Superfit 2008 event that was held up in Inverclyde on the 17th May. Just click on the link to be taken to the PDF on their site Superfit 2008 Results. Congratulations go to Andy Lett and Catherine Garner on their wins. Andy appears to be returning to such form that he has gone back to competing in the Men's Open event and Catherine appears to have put in a dominant time several minutes in front of the other girls. The long travelling distance unfortunately put some of our top cross trainers off making the trip up to Scotland which was a shame as this event looks like it will develop into one of the major ones in the years to come.

Having said that, the entries of a few of our Elite and Advanced status cross trainers meant that there were a few status points at stake and there are a few new names and some points changes to those tables. Click on Competitor status to see these.

As always we would remind the competitors that its them that determine the status of the event and the points available by the numbers of the top cross trainers that turn up to compete. Lets hope that a few more make the next events that are coming up.

Having been kindly sent the results for the last event, Results are now up for Fitness Xtreme Luton. Comparisons can be made on that page with last years results. The UKXTA Ranking lists are now also updated and a few changes are occurring as people move up and down the lists. Competitor status points are also up but no new changes in individual status came from this event.

Feedback from the Luton event was that it was good and our apologies for being unable to attend it. The judging yet again was to the same high standard we have come to expect when Mark Drury puts on an event. The races were also close which again is 'hats off' to Mark for selecting the right races.

The Grand Prix results are now also up on the Calso website. Click for the link to see these as well.

Lets hope we see more and more people coming to these events and perhaps a few more bold individuals willing to put on events of their own.

If there is anyone not sure of what training to do next in the gym, or perhaps their training is becoming a little too routine and are looking for a little extra sizzle to it all - then why not try out 5 Free Octathalon Training Sessions. Just go to the www.octathalon.com website for details. Qualification forms are now up on that site for those of you looking to try and enter what looks like will be the event of the year in cross training as the advertising planned for it is expected to bring in many people from other sports. This is exactly what we feel is needed as it will continue to push standards higher and higher.

We are pleased to announce that the Octathalon Championships now have a new sponsor. Check out the www.octathalon.com website for initial details. We see this as excellent news for cross training and all cross trainers. The publicity that will be created will bring many more numbers into the sport from lots of different areas.

Best of luck to all competitors at the Fitness Xtreme event this coming weekend. There looks to be some great races to come as well. Firstly a rematch between current UKXTA number one ranked cross trainer Sam Orgee and Jason King. It was a close finish between them at Hampshire so it could be one to watch here as well. However there are some races beforehand that could push these two to having to go all out to get either first or second.

The one area they will all be looking to go through cleanly on is the early trio of Squat thrusts, Press Ups and Shoulder Press. How competitors come through that will give the spectator a good indication of who will do well and probably who will win. Anyone who has to stop and rest during these three will really find it hard to go on to win. This is undoubtedly the area all the top people will have worked on in their training and it will be interesting to see who has done this best.

Anyway good luck to all of you and we will have the results and updated ranking lists for you to see shortly afterwards.

A couple of changes to the Rankings have resulted now that Trudi Hawksworth has asked to now compete as a Master. This has meant that Hayley Powell moves up into the top 10 ranking list and is now an Elite cross trainer. Amber Anderson has also now become an advanced status cross trainer by picking up a point at the Calso event.

The next event where positions can change will be the Fitness Xtreme event held at Luton by Mark Drury. This was an excellent event last year with top standard judging so a large turnout will be expected. Numbers of places as you know are limited so get your applications in fast.

Such a short time since our last news and we have now found out that our main sponsors have given us the go ahead and are supporting us with the Octathalon this year and have asked for options for the next two years as well. The event will be run at the Olympiad Leisure centre on the Saturday 11th October. Look up the news on the www.octathalon.com website for more details and we will keep you posted on this site as well as things progress.

The UKXTA ranking lists and Competitor status pages have now been updated after the Calso 2008 event. Just follow the links. Congratulation must go to Ben Stroud and Catherine Garner, two relative newcomers to the sport who have done well enough in recent events to become Elite status cross trainers. Any event organisers wanting to hold a National Status event will need to attract these two people as well as the other Elite cross trainers. If we are to drive up standards and to run better events for the competitors all we have to do is to put on events that attract the best. Albeit recently that has not been easy with the bouts of flu going around and that almost certainly resulted in less of them managing to compete in the recent Calso event.

Also in the Mens open category we have three new names now in the Advanced status category. This is good news as we are looking to grow the number within the sport.

More news on events to come this year, including the Octathalon over the next few days.

It has come to our attention that some people think that the UKXTA does not fully support cross training and that event organisers are not all united in one common direction.

We feel this warrants an answer. The fact that you are reading this shows one major commitment we have made for a considerable time and at our own expense. This website has run for the benefit of promoting cross training for over three years now. We have been to many events over the last 12 years and have played a major part in keeping the events going with this website and our ranking lists. The promotion of all these things has led to, what is now, the website with the largest audience (if the Google Rankings are to be believed) and we are daily getting more and more enquiries as to future developments.

For over six years we have pondered what cross training needs in order for it to take off. Only careful design and care to include all interested parties has resulted in what we believe will take cross training forward. We cannot speak for individual event organisers, nor can we take from them what is rightfully theirs. What we can do is to promote what we are doing and for us that was developing a sport.

By its very nature a sport has to be fixed. In athletics you have 100m races. Someone at the beginning started with a distance - in fact it was 100 yards. That was what allowed it to take off. People could compare times and interest increased. Whether or not the 100 meters was the first race or not is irrelevant but what we do know is that later on came other distances and other events.

This was why we started the Octathalon. It is not just an event each year, it was to provide the catalyst for everything to take off. This meant developing the infrastructure so that everyone could benefit - the gyms, the personal trainers etc. This meant designing training programs that were unique as well as providing something where there was a current gap in the market. This gap was the group personal training sessions that allowed for cheaper consumer entry level to the personal training market as well as increasing the hourly rate of personal trainers. Some of our Octathalon trainers are now looking at doubling their annual incomes using these Octathalon classes.

You may not have heard much from us recently, but that has not meant we have not been busy on your behalf. We believe it to be on your behalf because we think the Octathalon represents a great opportunity for you all whether as a future competitor on a local regional or national basis or as a personal trainer.

Meetings with organisations, sponsors, assessing agencies, lawyers, marketing companies, health and leisure company directors, doing presentations to all of these as well as groups of personal trainers as well as designing product and service literature takes many hours of work and commitment and it is not just a few calls on the phone in the hope you can get someone else to do the work.

Shortly we hope to share with you some of the results of our endeavours. But for now we felt that with some people raising some questions and issues on forums, we needed to outline our views again.

We will continue to run this website and support cross training. Please consider our view that with the Octathalon becoming successful, it will benefit all involved in cross training to the extent that they want that involvement.

Good luck to all those cross trainers who are attempting the Calso8's challenge this weekend. With several notable absences there are ranking points to go around and that could change the top ten leader board.

The latest UKXTA rankings have now been calculated after the last event. Several changes in the orders have taken place and congratulations must go to Martin Carter who, after a terrific performance and an excellent 3rd place in the Men's Open at Hampshire, has become an Elite status cross trainer. Competitor status points have also changed if you would like to check out your latest figures.

We are more than happy to keep the rankings going on in the same format for the time being as it has proved popular with so many of you. With potentially many events coming up in the years to come, it is the competitors way of voting with their feet and doing the events that you feel are the best thought through, are the best run and offer you the best value. It is in this way that you will drive standards up.

2007 has been a very busy year for us with much work going in to develop the sport and, in particular, taking the Octathalon further forward so many thanks to all of you who have publicly and privately shown support for us. We will be making more announcements at the beginning of 2008 with regards to future events.

Results are now up for the Hampshire Fire event. The UKXTA Ranking list will be updated soon as will the GBXTA Grand Prix on the Calso site. Just click on the link to find out more.

Good wins on the day for Beccy Ceil and Sam Orgee, both of whom are currently, and deservedly, at the top of the rankings and who also both won the Grand Prix this year. The most exciting race of the day came down to the last with the Essex David Lloyd team narrowly being beaten by a Royal Marine team.

Hot News in the lead up to the Hampshire event. Unfortunately due to injury Kirk Gibbons is having to pull out of the event. With a similar injury Ben Stroud may also not be able to compete. Steve Chissell is now also out, having been enticed away by his wife with a surprise week away. That will affect the race line up a bit, but that will not affect the great racing in store on the day.

The UKXTA have managed to find out some more background on the newcomer Chris Lord and it looks like Sylburn Miller has a really tough race on his hands - sorry Sylburn. Adrian (Chuck) Berry, long standing cross training competitor and one of the Royal Marines fittest and strongest has been digging deep into potential competitors from within the ranks. His expert eye found a nugget with the same potential of Darren (Robbo) Robson. He is a young super fit Physical Training Instructor from Lympstone Devon - Jacqui Macquisten's old training ground. From the sound of things he could be pushing to become an Octathalon Champion in the near future. The same can also be said from our investigations into another new comer Catherine Garner. All in all it still promises to be a great day. Keep looking at the latest news for further updates.

Andy Ashurst, here is one for you. Making the transition from being a top Pole-Vaulter to becoming a top Cross Trainer

The 2007 Hampshire Fire event race line up is now up for everyone to see. Just follow the link. Ty Whitlock has again managed to attract a top field to his well run and well thought through event. Now in its 16th year it is the longest ever lasting cross training event and it is easy to see why. The line up presents us with some great races. Sam Orgee, the new Grand Prix champion and UKXTA top ranked cross trainer is up against the UKXTA number two ranked cross trainer Jason King. Will a few sleepless nights with new baby Joshua affect Jason on the day? Only time will tell.

In the Men's masters we also have the top two UKXTA ranked cross trainers competing for the number one slot. Kirk Gibbons, current number 2, is closing fast on no 1 Sylburn Miller. Kirk has a tough race against Nik Kandola and, after having to pull out of the Octathalon in the early rounds this year due to illness, Kirk will be looking to have a crack at beating Nik the silver medalist of that event. Sylburn on the other hand, who although he has been getting over an injury himself, has a more of an unknown race against relative newcomer Chris Lord. Ty placed Chris high up in the race line up and the expectation is that he will run a very fast race.

The Team event also promises some excellent racing with Essex champions, and 2007 Octathalon Silver medalists, from David Lloyd up against a Royal Marine team out for revenge at being narrowly beaten by them in that same Octathalon event. Our bet is that this is likely to be the closest race of the day and definitely one to watch.

In the Women's event, what we had all hoped for was a showdown between Kirsty Read and Beccy Ceil for the Grand Prix champion for 2007. Unfortunately Kirsty is unable to race and the title looks like it will be going to Beccy.

However what will perhaps be one of the greatest female races ever - looks like it will eventually be happening. What many people may not know is that these two women have not raced head to head for over three years and yet they are clearly the two top women in cross training not only at the present but also for a long time. Those two are Jacqui Macquisten and Beccy Ceil. A win for Jacqui would also put her back on top of the UKXTA ranking list, a place currently held by Beccy. Jacqui and Beccy have been in the sport for more years than any other female cross trainer and first raced each other head to head at a Tropicana event over 10 years ago. (An event run by none other than our friendly flying pig - Phil Piggott.) Beccy won that time, however Jacqui beat Beccy at the Luton Fitness Xtreme event earlier this year, but unfortunately they were not head to head then, so the race is poised to be another definite for everyone to watch.

Also to watch out for in the Women's event is newcomer Catherine Garner. Catherine surprised everyone with her great result at the last cross training event and, with hardly any training for it, was only 1 minute off the first place time. Catherine is a top National swimmer from Scotland who was recently introduced to cross training by James King, one of the Octathalon Trainer trainers who was also part of the winning Men's Pairs team in the Octathalon this year.

All in all this Hampshire event shows the promise that only a top event can bring. The UKXTA will be at the event and will report back with photos and a report on the days racing.

Watch this space for the latest news - the new sport for gyms - The Octathalon.

The Hampshire fire event is the next best cross training event for the top cross trainers in the UK and this year it promises some great action. The last event in the GBXTO grand prix series will settle all the final results and placings. Entries are coming in fast and the event is close to oversubscription so get your entries in now if you want to be part of one of the best courses for cross trainers to compete on. Entries can be downloaded and printed off via the UKXTA calendar and they need to be in by the 10th November.

As usual requests to update the ranking lists as soon as possible have now meant that The UKXTA ranking lists have been updated as of today. As you know these are purely driven by the competitors and not the organisers and are for the benefit of the Cross trainers and no one else and give an indication of how you are faring against your peers. This time it is all change with many people moving positions.

Have a look at the competitor status pages to see your current amount of points. The last event gained Regional status for the Men's open, National status for the Women's Open and Men's Masters and Women's Masters and the appropriate points have been calculated and added up.

Congratulations must go to Luke Sedge for reaching Elite status in the Men's Open & Hayley Powell for reaching Elite status in the Women's open. Also to Paul Morton for reaching Elite status in a very hotly contested Men's Masters Ranking list.

Our best wishes and congratulations also go to Beccy Ceil and Gary Nicholas on their coming marriage this weekend.

The Phil McConnell memorial run is coming around again and will likely be held the first week end of November. We will let you know the details as soon as we have them. Phil was a keen cross trainer and all those that did the run last year really enjoyed the fantastic scenery in the Brecon Beacons. I am sure he would welcome any cross trainer who wanted to turn up, even if they did not know him.

The UKXTA Ranking lists have now been updated after the Octathalon Cup results last week. We now have a new Men's Masters number one - well done to Sylburn Miller for getting top spot. We have also got several new Advanced status cross trainers - well done to Sam Saunt, Caroline Waywell, Ben Stroud and Les Barrow. Check out the competitor status pages for details.

The times and positions and full race report are now up on the Octathalon website just follow the link www.octathalon.com and go to events, 2007 event and then race times.

Photos of the event will follow shortly. Thanks for all your great feedback and we are glad you liked the event so much.

This is just a quick message to say thanks to all who supported the UKXTA Octathalon event yesterday - the judges, the time keepers and the competitors. We are humbled by all the help you have given.

We are still clearing up and sorting things out, but we will have a full race report out tomorrow. What we can say was that all present were witness to immense performances that were unique and second to none.

The latest news on the Octathalon with all the races taking place can now be found on the www.octathalon.com website.

The day looks like it will be action packed with many people who are really interested in this sport coming along for the day to either watch or compete. The highlight will be the men's final where we have competitors from other sports like rowing and running, all looking to see how they compare with the best out there.

The Octathalon event is progressing well with nearly all places full in all events. With a couple of late dropouts due to injury we have three places left in the women's open if anyone would like to compete. Just get in touch with us or send in an application form.

The Men's line up now has 40 entries and we will be running 10 heats with 2 to go through in the first round. We will be then having 5 races with the first 5 going through and the 3 fastest 2nd places. Even if you come third in the race with a faster time, you will not get in - 2nd place times only count. This new element to the CUP will ensure that competition is even greater earlier on in the event and will mean even greater levels of endurance will be needed to win after 4 races.

On another note, we would like to wish all the best to Rebecca (Becks) Robert. Becks discovered a pain in her ribs whilst out at La Santa and came home to find she had a blood clot on her lung. She had to pull out of the Dragons event and she is now fighting to get fit for the Gorton event later in the year. We wish her the very best in her recovery as I am sure all of you will.

The UK Rankings list and competitor status page have now been updated and we have a new Men's number one - Sam Orgee. Sam has raced nearly all the top cross trainers in several competitions and has been picking up good points all the time which is why he is now fully deserves the number one slot on the UKXTA ranking list.

In addition to that Jason King's improved performances are seeing his ranking position climb as well. In the Women's rankings Beccy Ceil returns to the number one position but now close behind her after her great win at Dragons is Kirsty Read. Kirsty is looking like she is returning to good form and will be hard to beat in the future.

Well done also to Marie Mitchell who now gains Elite status after making the top 10 ranking list.

Congratulation to Sue and Steve Regan-Watts for all their work in putting on the Dragons Gauntlet. The results will be up soon on this site as will the updated ranking list. Winners of the Men's open was Sam Orgee and the Women's open was won by Kirsty Read. Unfortunately there were some late pull outs due to injury and illness and Will Whitmore, Steve Regan-Watts and Jacqui Macquisten, as well as a few others, could not race.

The next event coming up is the Octathalon. There are still a couple of women's open places left and women's pairs places as well as many Club course places. Just look at the www.octathalon.com website for entry details.

The race line up for the Dragons Gauntlet is now up - just follow the link. Congratulations must go to Sue and Steve Regan-Watts for attracting so many top ranked Elite and Advanced status cross trainers. The event has become such a success that it is now heavily oversubscribed and difficult to get in. In addition to that the Men's Open will be the first Men's open event this year that gains full National status - that is a measure of how well they have done. They have also done a great job lining up some people for what looks like some great racing.

UKXTA number one Will Whitmore takes on 3rd ranked Sam Orgee in the last race which is sure to be a cracker as neither have raced each other before. Will last raced in Dubai where he beat past champion Darren Robson so we know his form has been there recently but he has not raced this year so it will be a difficult one to call.

The two top ranked women Beccy Ceil and Jacqui Macquisten go head to head for the first time in over two years. Beccy will be out to beat Jacqui after her defeat at the Luton Fitness Xtreme event several weeks ago, but Jacqui has won the Dragons Gauntlet three years in a row now and likes the course. This one is likely to be sorted by only a few seconds which means it will all be down to the bench and what's left in them after a gruelling 1.5km bike and 1km run.

In the Men's masters we have a great showdown between UKXTA No 2 Sylburn Miller and UKXTA No 1 Gary Nicholas. Sylburn put in a fantastic performance at Luton and Gary will not want to lose his top ranking. Again this is too close to call and it will almost certainly come down to only seconds between them as well.

Other mouthwatering races are between Nik Kandola and Andy Lett. Andy had been training hard for an Iron man event in August so will have a great cardiovascular base for the course and we all know he has the strength, whilst Nik's form has been steadily improving over the last 12 months. Jimmy Wong and Jason King offers another spectator special. In fact there are so many potentially close races have a look at the line up yourself.

On another note the Octathalon Cup is now full except for a few Women's pairs places that are left. The Club Octathalon on the Saturday still has plenty of room and the cut off for that is not until the last week of July. The Club course represents a good opportunity for Intermediate cross trainers to do well as the weights are not as heavy, but as a few have already found it is just as tiring - just faster.

Results are now up for the Superstars event last week end. The event is clearly getting more popular for the cross trainers. The UKXTA ranking point system was designed to be led by the cross trainers and the events they choose to do, and in this case it is clearly working well. The Superstars event gained regional status for the Men's Masters and Local status for the Women's open with the competitors gaining valuable ranking points. Have a look at all the results from the day by clicking on the links as well as seeing the new ranking points. Congratulations to Zena Hymns who becomes an advanced status cross trainer as well.

Its great to see events like this on the Calendar - here are some pictures from the day sent to us courtesy of the organisers.

If anyone has any other photos they would like to see posted - just send them in.

The full results including the sprint and intermediate are now also up for the Luton Fitness Extreme event - just click on the link.

The organisers of the Dragons Gauntlet event - Sue and Steve Regan-Watts have asked us to now tell everyone that the competition is fully booked so please do not send any more entries in. If you were too late in entering be warned - X- training is getting more popular and at the moment there are not enough events - so get your entries in earlier next time.

We have just put up the new UK Ranking lists after the Luton event and again there are several changes. We have two new Elite status cross trainers - well done to Sarah Deed and Jason King. That will further help future organisers to gain higher status events. We also have two new advanced status men's open cross trainers in Jimmy Wong and Steve Grundy who have now started collecting ranking points - well done to them as well. The new women's masters ranking list continues to grow with Sue Regan-Watts dominating things at the top still.

All eyes are now on the Dragons event in June and who can win that. The big race is likely to be between the two top girls Jacqui and Beccy who are equal first on the rankings list and they must be odds on to be racing head to head in the final race. Which will the course suit best?

In the Men's event, will Sam Orgee be able to avenge his defeat at Dragons by Kirk and Sylburn? Another big question on people's minds is whether Will Whitmore, now he is back at the top of the ranking list, will he racing and if he does how will he fare against those three.

Entries continue to come in for this years Octathalon, with many now looking at having to race in the Club course on the Saturday as they will have missed getting the limited number of guaranteed places for early entries in the Cup event on the Sunday. Remember it is two separate days racing. For those of you that think the Club course is just an easy event - try running through it at speed. Its an entirely different type of race altogether and one that is just as tough if not tougher. It will just favour one type of person over another - just like the 200m and the 1500m in Athletics.

We've just come back from a great event down at Fitness First Luton. Mark Drury and his team obviously put in a lot of hard work and it really paid off. The best event ever held there. The judging was tough but not in your face and some of the races went really close with the last race of the day between Sam Orgee and Sylburn Miller a cracker with Sylburn just pushing out the bench press reps first 9 secs ahead. However it was Kirk Gibbons who put in the fastest time of the day for the men with 18min 8 secs to take first place in the Masters, Sylburn Miller in second and Simon Bellinger in third.

In the women's open we did see the fastest time of the day for the course and, beating Kirks time by one second, in 18m 07secs Jacqui Macquisten beat Beccy Ceil with 19m 20secs into second place, with a terrific performance from local girl Sarah Deed to take third in 20m 17 secs.

In the Men's Open Sam Orgee took first place with a surprised Jason King coming in second with a time of 18m 47secs. Jason had set out to do a sub 21 min race and this year had decided to pace himself a little. The result was awesome and left several competitors wondering what more he could achieve at Dragons and at the UKXTA Octathalon Cup this year. Third place went to Simon Bellinger in 19m 25secs with another gritty performance that shows us he is here to stay as one of the Elite cross trainers.

Top Men's intermediate position went to a strong looking Phil Rawle who surely must step up now to full open status with his caliber and the same could be said for the top Women's intermediate - Sam Saunt. Sam at the age of 19 could well be one of the stars of the future and the one to beat in a few years time.

The UKXTA Ranking list will be updated shortly. Early results are up for the Men's and Women's open. Others will follow shortly - just follow the link.

One last thing we really must point out is that the places for the Octathalon Cup in July are being taken up fast. Many people filled in application forms today and you will really need to send yours off soon to avoid disappointment if you want to race either the CLUB course on the Saturday or the CUP course on the Sunday. Just remember that the first 16 Men's and the first 8 Women's application forms to come in will get a guaranteed starting place. The remainder are the top seeds (last years finalists) and the rest are down to best times. Cut off for best times and for all entries is the end of May.

The Grand Prix results will be up soon on the Calso website www.calso.com and just for any doubters still out there, the UKXTA is in full support of the Grand prix series and Gary and Beccy's work.

It was also good to see many names from the past today who have come back to the sport - Jimmy Wong, Phil Talbot to name but two.

Jason King 2nd-Sam Orgee 1st - Simon Bellinger 3rd Beccy Ceil 2nd - Jacqui Macquisten 1st - Sarah Deed 3rd

Please note that all racers for the Luton Fitness Extreme must attend the briefings. 8.30am for sprint and intermediate competitors and 1.15pm for the others. Mark Drury had also asked us to say that the times for your race may slightly vary on the day depending on a number of factors so please turn up for you race in time for any last minute briefings as to start times.

Application forms are now available from this site for the Dragons event on June 16th. Just go to calender and click on the links for either a PDF version or a page to print off. The event line up for Fitness extreme Luton is now up on the site. Click on the link to see who is racing who.

A new Octathalon website will be up and running in the next couple of days. This is just a quick announcement to let you all know of a few advance details. The UKXTA website will still be running and promoting cross training and the UKXTA will also be the National Association that heads up the future Octathalon events and Octathalon training programs in this country. This website will be updated later this year to a newer and fresher format and one that is more in line with the new Octathalon website www.octathalon.com . As you will see when the new website is up, we have taken a different approach in order to try and get cross training into more clubs up and down the country. Some of you may not like the approach, in that we seem only to be promoting the Octathalon, but we felt that a standard course was needed in order to fit in with the training programs and induction classes and handbooks that we have developed alongside it all. Having said that, we are under no illusion that once people start to get into the Octathalon, they will look to do more events throughout the year and that is where all the other cross training organisers will benefit. For all personal trainers that are currently also cross trainers, we will be offering heavily discounted rates, where we can, on the courses on offer on the website. Please contact us individually to ask about these and I am sure we can come to an arrangement such that basic costs are covered.

With regards to the Cup and Club course event this year, the entry details will be on the new website. However what we ought to tell you is that the entry system will be different this year to allow you a longer lead in time to train for the event, knowing you have a place early enough. In order to do this, we have decided upon the following approach. The first 16 men's applications, and the first 8 women's, applications will automatically get a place in the Cup event. Last years finalists in the individual events will all get places but they will have a limited time span to send their application forms in. The winning pairs will also get a place as long as they too get their entries in by a similar deadline. There will also be a few Wild Card entries for the individual events as we are looking to attract top names from other related sports. All the other places will be done on a similar way as before - you will need to send off your application form with a time you have done for the course. You may use previous course times from the 2005 or 2006 event. The fastest times will be given the remaining places. There will be the same limits on numbers as the last year - 32 men, 16 women and 8 pairs of women's county teams and men's county teams. In the Masters event, the three podium finishers last year will gain an automatic place as long as they apply on time and there will be a minimum of 8 places available for the Masters event. More can enter, by virtue of entering quickly and being one of the first 16.

Aside from the Cup event on Sunday this year, there is the Club course event on the Saturday. This is a one off run through of the course except for the four fastest, who will have to go again at the end of the day in a final race off for first place. There is also a club pairs event run to similar rules as the county pairs event in the past, but all with the fastest time of the day winning as the club event is not a knockout event.

You can choose to race both days but only if in a pair on one of the days and the individual event on the other of the two days.

Many more local people will be entering the club course and it is a great event format for everyone. We are expecting this to be popular, so there will again be a limit on entries with the fastest applications forms getting to us, getting a place in the event.

If you want to enter the Cup event and you are unlucky enough not to get a place, there is a place on the application form to request entry into the Club event instead. We will refund any entry fees for those who are unsuccessful at gaining an entry place to the event.

The UKXTA ranking list is now up after the Calso event which everyone seemed to think was a great success and if ever they deserved any more credit both Beccy Ceil and Gary Nicholas now top each of their Ranking lists - so a huge well done for putting on an event like that and doing so well. Also news is that Hywel Davies returns to the top of the Men's ranking list and after 3 good placings Sam Orgee moves in to 8th place gain Elite status . New also to the top ten and elite status are Sarah Connelly with a great performance and Hayley Powell who also did very well at the Calso event. Finally now Kirk Gibbons has decided to move into the Masters list, he also makes it to the top ten and Elite status. The Competitor status pages have also been updated and Paul Morton comes in as an advanced status cross trainer now.

With the GB Cross training Grand Prix building a healthy head of steam, places in the coming events are going to go like hot cakes so get your entries in as early as possible for the Fitness Xtreme in Luton. Entry forms are via the UKXTA calendar - just click on the link.

Entries to the Octathalon Cup and the Club events will be up from the 1st April.

Good luck to everyone at the Calso 7's event tomorrow and all the best to Beccy and Gary for all the work they have had to do to put the event on.

The application form for the Fitness Xtreme event is now available in pdf format. Just click on the link.

The UK ranking lists have now been updated. The new rolling 12 month formula has not worked out as it appeared to severely disadvantage those cross trainers who have put in so much work in events in the past so we decided to go back to the old formula for the time being with the best 4 from the last 12 months results to count added to the best 2 results in the previous 12 months. We are also still going to allocate points based on the attendance of competitors and their status. The new Grand Prix system is fairly rewarding points based on the years performance and we felt that it would be better for cross training to more fully differentiate between that and the ranking list by rewarding longevity and greater peer accountability.

Congratulations must go to Steve Dowse who now makes it to Elite status based on his consistent performances and entry in to several events. Now Kirk Gibbons has decided to enter the masters category, a new Men's open number one appears - Cassius Frankson.

Well done to Beccy Ceil who has now reached number one ranking in the Women's open through her consistently high results over a 2 year period.

Due to popular demand, we have started a Women's Masters category and congratulations to Sue Regan-Watts for starting as the current number one ranked Women's master.

The latest results and splits are now up from the Ironman / Ironwoman event last weekend. It looks like it was a great event and was a good challenge for everyone. Just follow the link to an Excel spreadsheet. The ranking list will be updated this weekend with the new rolling 12 month formula. A full race report from organiser Stuart Leng is also available to be read. Links also available via the calendar.

The details for the Dragons Gauntlet are now up. Application forms to follow. Just follow the link or go via the calendar. The race order for Stuart's Ironman / Ironwoman event is now up as well. Just follow the link

The Superstars entry details are now up. Just follow this link or the one from the calendar. The event last year was very successful and this could prove to be one of the up and coming events in years to come.

We are delighted to announce that we have now established a firm date for the 2007 Octathalon. In fact we should say dates. With the advancements we are making, and the support we are getting in order to make the event even bigger and better, we are now holding the event over 2 days. Saturday the 28th July will be a day for qualifiers with the finals being held on the Sunday 29th.

In addition to the qualifiers on the Saturday, we will be running a Club course competition. The Club course has the same distances and numbers of reps but has lighter weights. Anyone can enter this event but we are not allowing anyone to enter both the Club and the Cup course in the same year. The fastest 4 Club course people will go through to the Sunday final which will be just one race. The qualifiers for the Cup course, will go through to race in the same knockout competition on the Sunday with 4 rounds for the men and 3 rounds for the women.

Again there will be seeds for the men's, women's and master's events and these people will be given a bye such that they only need to turn up on the Sunday to do the race as they are automatic qualifiers. All last years finalists in the individual events are seeded as are the three top masters.

The team event is now termed the 'Pairs' event. The winning team from last year is seeded and will have a bye straight into the final on the Sunday should they wish it. All other teams wishing to enter this year will need to submit times in the normal way and if there are more than 7 other teams entered, there will be a team qualifiers race on the Saturday. We will inform you of this well in advance.

We are expecting many local entries into the club event on the Saturday, and because of the extra marketing of the event to many more clubs this year, we have a maximum number of entries set to 100 which will mean some people may not be able to get into the qualifiers. Because of that all qualifiers will still have to submit times as has been done in previous years.

More details will come out in the following weeks and we will keep you informed. However we thought you might like to know this information in advance to help you plan your year.

There is another event on the calendar. Last year a Superstars type of event was very successfully held at the Vauxhall recreation club in Luton. We will have links to entry forms and event details shortly but this year there is a good intermediate event that is worth checking out.

The 2007 calendar has been updated with news of several events for the year. More details for entry forms etc will follow with links and downloads for you. We have been informed that Superstars in Luton will again run and they will be giving us a date for that shortly.

We have been exceptionally busy these last few weeks as we have been preparing a new website. Along with that, we have been acting on some new ideas to get the new sport of the Octathalon into more clubs and we will let you know more about that a little later on.

What is already exciting is the many contacts we have received already from clubs around the country that are interested in what we are doing.