Over 70 National Federations made the long journey to Vancouver in early December for the “Road to Beijing” Multisport Leadership Conference and ITU Congress. In the past the ITU Congress has attracted an average of 47 countries, so it speaks well for the future of the sport with such a high number in attendance (bearing in mind that 7 NFs were unable to obtain visas on time to travel to Vancouver.) During the 3 days of meetings, new friendships and partnerships were established among the many national federation officers, event organisers, coaches and athletes. A clear four-year strategic plan for the sport was the strongest outcome.

There were over 300 multisport leaders who attended the ITU Road to Beijing Multisport
Leadership Conference - which is undoubtedly the largest-ever gathering of multisport
leaders. While the focus was on four key areas of multisport leadership, i.e.,
sport development, event production, media and television, and marketing and sponsorship,
several keynote speakers intensified the focus. It was a real pleasure to have
so many reknowned sport leaders at our conference such as:

Bob Fasulo, Secretary General of the Association of Summer   Olympic International Federations (ASOIF), Lausanne
  Rob Koehler, Deputy Director, WADA Standards and Harmonisation,   Montreal
  Norm O’Reilly, Assistant Professor of Marketing, School of   Business, Ryerson University
  Steve Podborski, Vancouver 2010 Organising Committee for the   Olympic Games (VANOC) and member of the “Crazy Canucks” World Cup   and Olympic ski team.
  John Furlong, President VANOC, Organising Committee for the   2010 Vancouver-Whistler Olympic Games.
  We would also like to thank Dragana Pavlovich from the IOC   Sport Department (former President of the Yugoslav Triathlon Federation) who   joined in several of the panel discussions, as well as Marion Lay   from Vancouver 2010 Olympic Legacy, and Bill Hallett, President   of Triathlon Canada.