None This weekend Vancouver will be hosting the 2008 BG Triathlon World Championships at scenic English Bay and Stanley Park. Emma Davis will be racing her last race to count towards Beijing qualification. Twenty eight Irish age group athletes will also be taking on the course, along with 3,000 athletes from around the world.
Back home soil, we have racing at Camlough and Schull. Please read on for more information…
This weekend’s World Elite Championships is the final race to score toward qualification for the Olympic triathlon in Beijing this summer. Emma is currently in an excellent 11th place on the World Cup rankings this year and is in a good position to gain Ireland our first triathlon representation at Olympic level. Emma’s ranking has put her in a prime spot for Sunday’s race, number 6, on the starting pontoon.
You can watch Emma’s race live this Sunday, at 9:00pm on www.triathlon.org. We wish Emma all the best for this weekend.
We would also like to wish the best of Irish luck to all our age groupers who will be racing in Vancouver this weekend: Alan Archard, Colm Byrne, Peter Clarke, Niall Collins, Angela Conroy, Jim Corbett, Tadhg Cronin, Philip Cullen, Mark Doyle, Dessie Duffy, Jim Furlong, Joehleen Gavin, Frank Hejoe, Marie McLoughlin, Celine McPhillips, Steven Moody, Peter Payton, Dave Quirke, Wayne Reid, Chris Reid & Kevin Smyth.
For our age groupers in Vancouver, even bad weather couldn’t dampen their spirits. Due to heavy rain, the opening ceremony was cancelled yesterday but everyone made it to the pasta party to fuel themselves for their big race. The olympic swim distance has been shortened to 900m and will only go back to the full 1500m if the water temperatures warms up from the current temperature, of a more Irish Sea like 13 degrees.
Back on home soil, this weekend, we have two of the well established sprint distance races on the Triathlon Ireland calendar. Both are now part of the new National Series. With the first 3d aquathon, and the second Midland aquathon next Wednesday, there’s a great variety of racing coming up in the next seven days.
Crooked Lake – In the beautiful setting of Camlough, just outside Newry, this race has been running since 2004. A lake swim, challenging bike and run course all await competitors. This race has been the sprint distance championships in the past. A great range of competitors will be travelling to Camlough, from people doing their first open water race, to those who’ve done every race since 2004.
Fastnet Triathlon – In it’s 4th year, taking place in the picturesque village of Schull, West Cork. There are many other events based around the Triathlon, including a Ceili, and Children’s Swim Gala.
Good luck to all athletes and race organisers this weekend.
