British Triathlon Elites gear up for Llanelli this weekend
The crème de la crème of British Triathletes will be racing this Sunday 16th May, in Llanelli, after the organisers British Triathlon were provided special dispensation to hold a trial race for qualification to the European Junior Championships, the European U23 Championships and for selection into ITU Continental Cups (Senior) and ETU Junior Cups.
Due to the Elite guidelines set out by the Welsh government and the need to keep the event numbers to an absolute minimum the event will be used for those racing for selection purposes ONLY. This means any athlete taking part will need to have current elite exemption from either England, Scotland, or Wales and meet the stringent criteria set out such as being on the Olympic and/or Commonwealth long list, have an ITU ranking or been ranked in the top 20 in the 2019, BT elite series. Final selection of start lists for this race being at the discretion of British Triathlons Performance Team.
The event will run as draft legal over the sprint distance of 750m swim, 20k bike and 5k run, at the North Dock, Millennium Coastal Park, Llanelli. There will be 3 waves Senior Male (50 athletes) -Junior Male (50 athletes) -Junior/Senior Female combined (55 athletes). Bubbles will be created on the day for each wave with all athletes being required to deliver a negative lateral flow test on entrance to the venue. As part of the guidelines set by the Welsh government for Elite events NO SPECTATORS will be allowed on site.
This event will see a stellar line up of talented established triathletes and young up and coming starlets.
On the men’s side, recent BUCS winner Marcus Dey will be looking to use his swimming prowess to gain himself an advantage over his competitors and may seek to create a breakaway to keep himself away from the strong runners behind. Cameron Main of Stirling University, who recently ran a sub-14 5K (13.53), will no doubt be looking to take his early season form into the race and if he was to head into transition off the bike with the leaders, it would be hard to bet against him. Also taking to the start line is Harry Leleu, who in his last race took gold in the mixed relay at the Valencia ETU Triathlon U23 European Championships. Will he be able to bring to the table his 2019 form?
For the women, it looks as though half of the WTCS field are over in Wales this weekend rather than in Yokohama as all three brits who have pre-qualified for the Tokyo Olympics, Georgia Taylor-Brown, Vicky Holland and Jess Learmonth have decided to play it safe by not travelling abroad and instead are taking part in the more local British event. World Under 23 silver medalist Olivia Mathias will also be looking to mix things up at the front.
TriNation has a vested interest as our Podcast Host, Luke Howard, races in the senior’s event.
Start lists and further information can be found on the British Triathlon website.
Britain’s paratriathlon talent are also being offered opportunities on a selection basis to race on home soil. Provision has been made for a non-drafting race over the sprint distance in Llanelli to which they can hone their skills under the same bubble format as above.
