Life in sport has incredible highs and terrible lows, but it I would not change it for anything. Everyday brings a new challenge and training and racing lets you know you are alive. It was very satisfying to lead out the swim at both the European Championships a fortnight ago and in the Corus race last weekend against a lot of very talented up and coming athletes.

With this summer seeing the New British Grand Prix of Triathlon a six race series around the UK’s biggest and best triathlons. All the events will be televised on Channel 4 throughout the summer and I aim to be at all the events. I am currently third in the series as a result of the Reading Race and look forward to Blenheim this weekend.

• 07/8 June, Mazda Blenheim Triathlon, Sprint distance
• 15 June, Nokia Windsor Triathlon, Standard distance
• 26 July, Parc Bryn Bach Corus Elite Series, Olympic distance
• 10 Aug, Mazda London Triathlon, Olympic Distance
• 07 Sept, Strathclyde Park Corus Elite Series, Super Sprint Eliminator

Richard’s Bay World Cup May 2008

It always seems odd to tell your friends you are off to Africa on a Thursday and will be back on Monday, but such is the pace of the triathlon circuit you hardly have time to unpack your bike before moving on. This time however, I have arrived back form Africa with out a bike and have to leave to race the European Championships one day later. As you can imagine this has caused all sorts of fun and games with a trip to Sigma Sport, who support me with everything bike related, coming up trumps with spares of all the bits and pieces lost in the middle of Africa. 

Travelling with all our race kit is a difficult business but something you get used to the more you race abroad, but some trips do present more challenges than others. The Richard’s Bay race however, has been interesting from start to finish. At least the race went smoothly unlike New Zealand where the bike timing chip put on my bike by a mechanic without my knowledge before the start caused my front wheel skewer to fall out! I continued the race with nothing holding in my front wheel but eventually this caught up with me as I crashed coming into the second transition. Going out virtually last onto the run I ran through the field of 60 to finish 32nd not the result I was looking for, but a finish none the less.

Richard’s Bay was thankfully with out incident in the race and after a rough start I exited the water up the front and was in the lead pack for the start of the bike. Attacks came thick and fast on the bike and as we came around for the end of the second lap I seized my opportunity and jumped off the front to claim the first bike prime. The lead pack of thirty athletes remained twitchy for the rest of the bike with three of us managing to just get a few seconds lead into the second transition. I went out onto the run 3 seconds clear of the large chasing pack and seconds off the leader. As the run progressed I lead the second small group just behind the front group with the rest of the field strung out behind us. On the final lap the leader was caught by the first small group and the second small group was strung out a few seconds back. In the end it was a line of athletes crossing the finish one every few seconds I managed to hang on to 12th spot with a 31 minute 10km and my best finish of the year so far.

With the European Championships on Saturday 10th May this leaves only five days recovery between the races much short than usual. I hope the legs recovery and my bike finds its way home.

Esendex has recently started working with a number of companies who wanted to use SMS. 

For example, Copper Mines of Tasmania has incorporated Web SMS within their safety protocols so in the unlikely event of an emergency they can quickly and reliably get a message out to Site Managers, OH&S representatives and other key staff.

This is a very active area and we’ll be updating this article in the near future.

Kay Hardiman from the GNTP speaks highly of Esendex and the Freetext 80800 service,

“We chose Esendex for its reputation as experts in SMS and were confident the service could deliver and it has. The service is very simple and involves people texting STAN along with their name and address to receive a free copy of STAN’s Plan, which gives them an outline of future transport plans.”

Web SMS provides a simple, straightforward tool for sending out appointment confirmations, updates on services and rent arrears and benefit reminders. 

Nottingham City Homes’ use of Freetext is proving both an innovative and popular way for tenants to respond to these messages. By simply sending a reply to our Freetext code 80800 with the keyword RENT, replies are delivered straight to Web SMS’s inbox – at no cost to the sender.

Unfortunately Google have now changed their policy (see below) so that they will no longer support these claims, restiricting their activity to a “courtesy” review of complaints about actual Adword text.

This change of heart is extremely disappointing. We still believe such advertising to be wrong and our policy continues:

• to vigourously defend our trademark and
• not to bid on competitors’ trademarks or brands.

What’s changing in AdWords Trademark Policy? When?

Google has made a policy revision that applies to complaints we receive regarding trademarks in the UK and Ireland. For complaints received on or after Friday, April 4, 2008, we will no longer review a term corresponding to the trademarked term as a keyword trigger. However, we will continue to perform a limited courtesy investigation of complaints regarding ad text purported to be in violation of a trademark.

Beginning May 5, 2008, keywords that were disabled as a result of a trademark investigation will no longer be restricted in the UK and Ireland.

Why did Google change its trademark policy?

We want advertisers to use keywords that are most relevant to their business and our user’s interests. Google’s goal is to provide our users with the most relevant information, whether it is from our search results or advertisements. A key to achieving this goal with our ads is providing relevant choices and giving users the opportunity to determine which ads they find most relevant.

Who’s affected by the policy change?

Google’s revised trademark policy applies to trademarks held in the UK and Ireland. We will continue to handle trademark complaints for all other countries pursuant to the existing trademark policy.

What will happen to existing trademark complaints?

- Complaints received prior to April 4, 2008: We will investigate complaints against trademark use in ad text and keywords. Complaints will be processed according to the current policy.

- Complaints received on or after April 4, 2008: If the complaint requests that we prevent use of the trademark in ad text, we will continue our efforts to support this request. Complaints will be processed under our revised procedure.

- All Complaints: Beginning in May 2008, keywords that were disabled as a result of a trademark complaint and investigation will no longer be restricted in the UK and Ireland.

Will Google respond to any trademark complaints in relation to the UK and Ireland?

Yes. With respect to the UK and Ireland, Google will perform limited courtesy investigations of reported trademark violations and complaints related to ad text.

What are your plans to extend this policy to additional countries?

Local laws and business customs differ from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. The revised policy applies to UK and Ireland only.

Will trademark terms in my account start triggering ads?

Keywords that were disabled as a result of a trademark investigation may begin triggering your ads in the UK and Ireland, starting May 5, 2008.

Does this mean that I can now use trademark terms as keywords?

Google is not in a position to make recommendations regarding the use of terms corresponding to trademarks. If you have further questions, we encourage you to contact your legal counsel and consult the AdWords Terms and Conditions.

How do I change who is authorized to use my trademark?

If you would like to update your current trademark complaint to edit the list of authorized users of your trademark, you can send us a list of which authorized users, if any, are allowed to use your trademarked terms in their keywords and/or creatives. You’ll find information about our trademark complaint procedures online at http://www.google.com/tm_complaint.html.

Since there may now be competition with my ads, can you help me improve my natural search results?

The AdWords program, including the selection of an AdWords ad or AdWords ads content, is unrelated to the ranking of sites on our natural search results. To protect the integrity of our site, we clearly distinguish between search results and advertising. While we understand your concern regarding our recent revision of trademark policy, we may not influence the ranking of any site listed within Google Search results. Google’s order of results is automatically determined by several factors, including our PageRank algorithm. Please check out our ‘Why Use Google’ page for more detail. The best way to ensure a results listing on Google is for many other sites to link to you. I also recommend that you visit our webmaster section. This section is designed to answer all of your concerns and questions regarding your business or website’s presence within the Google search engine.

Who should I contact if I have further questions about this policy change?

You can email trademark-policy-revision@google.com regarding any questions you might have about the policy change.