While the bulk of the ETU Triathlon European Championship events took place in Lisbon, Portugal three weeks ago, this coming weekend sees the best of the continent’s Under-23 athletes head to Bulgaria to compete for European Championship honours
UPDATE: Due to extreme heat and humidity in Burgas, the U23 race has now been amended from a Standard Distance to Sprint Distance race
The ETU Triathlon U23 European Championships has seen considerable success for British athletes in recent years. The 1992 Olympic rowing venue of Banyoles, Spain was the site for the 2015 championships which saw Gold for Lucy Hall courtesy of a gun-to-tape victory, plus Silver for Marc Austin in the men’s event.
2014 saw Rio-bound Gordon Benson take Gold in Penza, Russia while a year previous to that, in 2013 Lois Rosindale was the champion in Holten, The Netherlands. A strong British team will be hoping to continue that string of medal successes this coming weekend in Burgas, Bulgaria.
The Standard distance race comprises of two laps of 750m each in the Black Sea, before five, predominantly flat laps of 8km on the bike, finished off with a four lap, 10km run held within the Sea Garden park, parallel to the beach.
After a long period out of racing with injury, current British Elite Triathlon Champion Sophie Coldwell is excited to back racing for Great Britain at an international championship event, something she missed out on in 2015.
“I'm really looking forward to getting back to racing at a championship as I haven't done one since Edmonton 2014. I've just packed my bike bag this morning, something I haven’t done for about year after picking up an injury so it's great to get those pre-race feelings back and I'm excited to head out to Bulgaria tomorrow with the team! U23 is always a mixed race especially with it being Olympic year, so I have a couple of race plans depending on how it's pans out on Saturday. There is also the relay the next day which I'd really like to be a part of and hopefully add to the success of Great Britain at relay events.”
The Elite U23 races take place on Saturday, with the Mixed Team Relay event on Sunday afternoon over the short 300m / 8km / 1.5km format.
British Elite athletes – Burgas ETU Triathlon U23 European Championships
U23 Men: Morgan Davies, Calum Johnson, Christopher Perham, Grant Sheldon
U23 Women: Sophie Coldwell, Chloe Cook, Zoe Thomas
Event website: https://bgtriathlon.wordpress.com
Event Schedule (local time):
Saturday 18th June 2016
08:30 – Junior Men*
11:30 – Under-23 Women
14:00 – Junior WOMEN*
17:00 – Under-23 Men
* Note, there are no British entrants in the ETU Junior European Cup events
Sunday 19th June 2016
14:00 – Under-23 Mixed Team Relay
