Events

World Triathlon Series to be hosted for second time on African soil

· By Press Office · 0 comments

Current World Triathlon Champion, the Olympic and Commonwealth Champion and former World Champions will all line-up at the second Discovery World Triathlon Cape Town. The ITU World Triathlon Series, which finishes in Chicago later this year, will be hosted at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town, making it the second time that this prestigious event will be hosted on the African continent.

ccs-62657-0-67347000-1429014710.jpgSpain’s Javier Gomez won last year’s Discovery World Triathlon Cape Town.

The fourth stop on the World Triathlon Series will take place on 25 and 26 April. Athletes that have already confirmed their participation in the event include current World Champion Javier Gomez, Commonwealth and Olympic Champion Alistair Brownlee, winner of the first World Triathlon Series race in 2015 Mario Mola and South Africans Richard Murray, Henri Schoeman and Wian Sullwadd. Gomez won the event last year, while Murray was the top South African with his fifth place. Brownlee missed last year’s event due to an injury, while his younger brother Jonathan finished second. The younger Brownlee is also the current leader in the World Triathlon Series after his victory in Auckland. Jonathan won’t be in Cape Town though. The battle between Gomez and Brownlee is an epic one, but Mola and Murray have been adding some spice of their own in recent events.

Legendary women’s racers Lisa Norden, Non Stanford and Emma Moffatt will be in action while the local hope rests on the shoulders of Mari Rabie and Gillian Sanders. Last year’s winner Jodie Stimpson is out because of injury and current World Champion and World Triathlon Series leader Gwen Jorgenson has not yet confirmed her participation.

One hundred and thirty elite triathletes from 80 countries will participate in this year’s event. The distances of Discovery World Triathlon Cape Town are that of an Olympic triathlon – 1500m-swim, 40km-cycle and 10km-run. The cycle comprises of one lap of 4.1km followed by 8 laps of 4.5km. The cycle will start at Transition 1, which is on Quay 6, in front of The Table Bay Hotel. Transition 2 is in the Green Point Athletics Stadium. This will also be the new finish of this year’s event. There are various changes to the cycling and running route. For more information on the route visit capetown.triathlon.org.

Entries for the event close on 14 April. There are two races. On Saturday it is the Olympic distance triathlon and that is followed by die sprint distance (half of the Olympic distance) on Sunday. Much excitement surrounds the Schools Challenge. You can enter as an individual or in a team. Participants will be racing on the same route as the elite athletes.

Join the action at the V & A Waterfront. For route information or to enter go to: http://www.capetown.triathlon.org/enter/.

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