The excitement is building towards the WTS races in Nottingham and Leeds, but before we even get to next week, there are some big races taking place this weekend, including Alex Yee returning to the site of his horror bike crash at the ITU World Cup in Italy and Lucy Charles racing The Championship in Slovakia.

2018 Cagliari ITU Triathlon World Cup, Italy

Alex Yee is amongst the GB competitors at the ITU World Cup race in Italy, which takes place over the sprint distance. He returns after suffering a horrific crash during the same race in 2017. Barclay Izzard joins Yee on the start line having recorded an impressive ETU Cup win in Gran Canaria earlier this season. Commonwealth Games athletes, Beth Potter and Olivia Mathias are set to compete in the women’s race along with former European Champion, India Lee, and Lucy Hall.

Full start list can be found here.

Elite Men: Barclay Izzard, Alex Yee

Elite Women: Lucy Hall, India Lee, Olivia Mathias, Beth Potter

Challenge Family – The Championship, Slovakia

On Sunday Slovakia hosts The Championship, a flagship event in the Challenge Family Series which carries a larger than standard prize purse, therefore attracting an exciting start list. IRONMAN world championship runner up, Lucy Charles is part of Britain’s strong female line up, and Adam Bowden will relish going up against the very high calibre men’s field as he continues to master middle distance triathlon.

Elite Women: Nikki Bartlett, Lucy Charles, Alice Hector, Sarah Lewis, Kimberley Morrison, Emma Pallant, Laura Siddall

Elite Men: Adam Bowden

Start List: https://app.lap.io/event/2018-challenge-the-championship/starters

Bloodwise Blenheim Palace Triathlon

Blenheim Palace will welcome elite juniors and seniors as well as age group and mass participation athletes to its historic grounds throughout the weekend. The Youth race will act as Britain’s Youth Olympic Games qualification race.

To learn more about this event and find full start lists, please visit here.

2018 Triathlon England National Championships & 2019 ETU Qualifier

Thorpe Park hosts the 2018 Triathlon England Championships on Sunday. There’s also a second chance for Age Group athletes to qualify for the 2019 ETU Sprint Distance European Championships due to be held next year.

More information about the event can be found on the event organisers website here.

2018 and 2019 ITU Standard Distance Triathlon Qualifier

Chester Tri Club are holding two chances for Age Group athletes to qualify for either the 2018 and 2019 ITU Standard Distance Triathlon.

Learn more about the race from the organisers here.