Ten British triathletes will take the start line at the New Plymouth ITU Triathlon World Cup this weekend in New Zealand. Former ITU world champion, Helen Jenkins, is amongst them in her first race since the London 2012 Olympic Games.

Having missed the whole of last season with injury, New Plymouth sees the very welcome return of Jenkins. She will line up alongside teammates including World Triathlon Series runner up, Jodie Stimpson and London 2012 Olympians Vicky Holland and Lucy Hall on Sunday (23 March).

Jenkins said: “It's been a long time since I stood on a start line so I'm looking forward to this. It will be good to get the first race done and experience all of the nerves and all of the excitement. I'll see how this one goes and look forward to building on what ever performance I get."

Tom Bishop will follow on from his sixth place in Mooloolaba last weekend by racing in New Plymouth. He’ll face Spain’s ITU world champion, Javier Gomez and Mooloolaba winner, Mario Mola.

The New Plymouth race takes place over sprint distance involving a 750m sea swim and a 20km bike and 5km beach front run. The elite women’s race starts at 12pm local time on Sunday 23 March (11pm Saturday UK time) followed by the men’s race at 2pm (1am Sunday UK time).

Whilst television coverage isn’t available from this event, the BBC will be interviewing a few of the British triathletes training in New Plymouth for their highlights package of the ITU World Triathlon Series race in Auckland which will be shown on Monday 7 April.

Former Ironman World Champion, Leanda Cave, competes in the La Pas PATCO Triathlon Pan American Cup in Mexico over the standard distance on Saturday.

Cave is the only British triathlete to date to have ever won a Commonwealth medal. She won silver in Manchester in 2002 and is keen to support Jenkins and Non Stanford as part of the Team Wales. A strong performance against a predominately Mexican field would further demonstrate her desire to compete in Glasgow in July.

The elite women’s race starts at 12:08pm local time on Saturday 22 March (4:08pm UK time). Updates will be posted via twitter on @triathlonlive and @brittri when available.

New Plymouth ITU World Cup, Sunday 23 March, Sprint Distance - 750m swim, 20km bike, 5km run

Lucy Hall
Vicky Holland
Helen Jenkins
Natalie Milne
Lois Rosindale
Jodie Stimpson

Tom Bishop
Adam Bowden
Matt Sharp
Grant Sheldon

La Paz (MEX) PACTO Triathlon Pan American Cup, Saturday 22 March, Standard Distance – 1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run

Leanda Cave