How Sportiva Events Started

After moving to Devon in 2010, Ben Tisdall joined the Mid Devon Cycling Club and the local Wild Running group. The first two events he organised were the Dartington Duathlon, now the Devon Duathlon in collaboration with Stewart Bergman and a night running race in collaboration with Ceri Rees of Wild Running, both in 2013. Dartmouth Triathlon  launched the following year and was originally called South Hams Triathlon. In 2018 he took over the Torbay Triathlon & Donut Duathlon from Brendon Prince and re-branded the company as Sportiva Events. He also went full time with the business. Ben (centre of photo) remains a keen cyclist, on and off road, and trail runner. Running Sportiva Events has put his triathlon career on hold for the last few years.

Since then we’ve weathered the pandemic,  launched several new events and revived others, such as the Dawlish Triathlon,  the Roadford Lake Triathlon and the Wimbleball Triathlon. In 2021 we took over some cycling events from Just Events including the Lands End 100 and the Taunton Flyer. In 2024 we stepped in to help Plymouth Triathlon Club with the Plymouth Triathlon at Mount Edgcumbe.

The Team

Having a brilliant team of super-reliable staff has been key to growing the company

Helen Simcoe-Walker (front left in picture)

If you’ve volunteered at one of our events, you’ll have met Helen. She’s responsible for a lot of the organisation behind the scenes including the marshal & volunteer rotas, managing the feed stations at our cycle events & sorting out the t-shirt orders. Helen is a regular runner too.

Nigel Evans (front right in picture)

Nigel ensures vans are fully loaded with all the correct kit for our event weekends. He’s also expert at setting up transitions, fixing generators, reversing huge vans into narrow entrances & generally keeping the whole show on the road. Nigel’s main sport is squash but he also fits in rowing and cycling.

Dawn Lamerton (back left in picture)

Dawn is an Ironman finisher & has competed in triathlon, cycling, running & swimming events for many years. You’ll generally find Dawn on registration and near the finish line at our events dealing with our competitors & any issues they have.

Other Team Members

Our other regular team members include John Ardron (another Ironman), Rachel Harvey (triathlete & ultra runner and centre back in the photo), Maria Nimmo (back right in the photo), Sam Jones, Olivia Mullan & Jess Rivers.

Click Here to see a full list of our Events