A small but dedicated GE Great Britain Age-Group Team travel to Valsesia in Italy this weekend as they compete at the 2012 Valsesia ETU Winter Triathlon European Championships.
There are four age-group athletes competing including Richard Gentry (25-29), Kelly Haniver (35-39), Sarah Thomas (35-39) and Dan White (50-54). Sarah Thomas has previous experience of delivering a medal-winning performance in winter triathlon after she won gold in the same age-group at the 2010 Eidsvoll ITU Winter Triathlon World Championships.
The elite GE Great Britain Team has Nick Dawes who moves up to the elite level after he delivered a strong performance in the age-group races at the recent 2012 Oberstaufen ITU Winter Triathlon European Cup last weekend. Nick commented: “Living in the mountains, the three sports are the ones that I get to train at on a daily basis, and as soon as I heard about winter triathlon, I thought it was the ideal sport for me. The European Championships will be my second winter triathlon and my first at the longer distance, which I am hoping will suit me even better. I'm looking forward to being able to compare myself with the best and to putting Great Britain as high up the rankings as possible.”
The event involves an 8km run, 12km mountain bike over undulating terrain, and a 10km cross-country ski, although the nature of winter triathlon means final distances will be set on the day taking account of the snow conditions.
Keith Snell, GE Great Britain Age-Group Team Manager for the event believes there is a strong prospect of medals commenting: “With a former age-group world champion in the GE Great Britain Age-Group Team, the event in Italy could kick the age-group season off in style. The GE Great Britain Age-Group Team has historically performed very well in the European Championships and after winning two gold medals last year, let’s hope to repeat that success in 2012.”
Malcolm Westwood, British Triathlon Director for Age-Group Teams is looking forward to the first major championships of the season adding: “Winter Triathlon is an exciting form of multisport and I am delighted we are sending a GE Great Britain Age-Group Team to Italy. The venue in Valsesia will provide great racing and with a good blend of British talent competing, I hope to get the season off to a medal-winning start.”
