She takes on her new role, replacing Norman Brook, who has moved to South Africa, at an important time for the organisation heading towards the Olympic Games in Beijing and on towards London 2012.

Hyde Peters said: “The last few weeks since accepting the role in triathlon have flown by and today is my first ‘official’ day in the BTF office. 

"I was able to get an early introduction to some of our current performing athletes at the English National Cross Country champs where they acquitted themselves with athletic distinction, but my main aim in these first few weeks will be to meet as many of the people involved in delivery of the sport as I can as the summer season gets underway.”

As a further stage of their modernisation, British Triathlon and Triathlon England have also unveiled new look websites which they claim will provide concise and usable content for those people interested in finding out more about one of the country’s fastest growing sports.

The revised events section lists all 650 triathlons taking place across the UK in 2008, with detailed venue maps and clear entry information.

For the first time, visitors to the site will be able to download the Federation’s bimonthly magazine, TriNews, and watch videos of last year’s Corus Elite Series races and European Duathlon Championships. 

The media will also be able to benefit from the new site which contains detailed athlete profiles, rights free imagery and a bank of archived press releases.

British Triathlon’s ICT manager, Gareth Davies said: “After six months of design and development it is with great pleasure that we can launch the new British Triathlon and Triathlon England websites.

Hopefully everyone from triathlon newcomers, through to the Home Nation members and the media, will be able to access relevant information and benefit from the updated content.”