The ETU Triathlon European Championships start tomorrow morning (Friday 14 June) in Alanya, Turkey. The weekend features elite senior, junior and paratriathletes racing along with amateur athletes competing in age categories.
London 2012 Olympian, Vicky Holland, features in a squad of three elite women racing tomorrow afternoon. Vanessa Raw and Lois Rosindale complete the British line up. Non Stanford was due to race, but withdrew after winning the ITU World Triathlon Madrid earlier this month.
Georgia Taylor Brown, 19, is the defending junior champion, having won last year in Eilat. She’s alongside up and coming talents, Florie McLeish, 17 and Sian Rainsley, 16, tomorrow lunch time.
Adam Bowden is the lone British representative in the senior men’s event on Saturday afternoon. With two top ten finishes in the ITU World Triathlon Series already this year, the 30 year old, who came to triathlon from an elite running background has a genuine opportunity to place highly at the European Championships.
A strong junior men’s line up includes Marc Austin, 19, Gordon Benson, 19 and Grant Sheldon, 18.
The Championships gets underway early tomorrow morning with the Age Group standard distance races over a 1500m sea swim, 40km cycle ride and 10km run. The sprint events are on Saturday morning. The British Age Group team regularly dominates international competition, and has been strengthened by the added incentive of a home World Championships in London in September.
Britain’s largest ever Paratriathlon team will compete on Sunday afternoon with a mix of experience and youth within the squad.
Reigning European Champions Jane Egan, Iain Dawson and Charlotte Ellis will look to defend their titles as well as mentor new members. Many of the new squad members are benefitting from Triathlon England Talent Squad funding from Sport England, enabling them to compete internationally for the first time.
The course features a sea swim, flat bike ride and four-lap run course that has a short hill on each lap. The biggest challenge will be the heat, which could reach up to 30 degrees.
Schedule
Friday, June 14th
07:00 - 08:30 Age Group standard distance starts
13:00 Junior Women start
16:00 Elite Women start
Saturday, June 15th
07:00 - 08:30 Age Groups Sprint Start
12:00 Junior Men Start
15:00 Elite Men Start
Sunday, June 16th
08:00 Junior Mixed Relay Start
10:00 Elite Mixed Relay Start
13:00 Paratriathlon Start
The Great Britain Paratriathlon team list is available here. For updates and results please follow @ETUtriathlon via Twitter.
