The first ETU medals have been won after a great battle in awful weather in Spain but now the season is about to start for those seeking to improve their ranking from last year. The Portuguese Triathlon Federation is once again hosting the Quarteira Triathlon where medals and points will be decided for Elite and Juniors.
Located down in a beautiful part of South Western Portugal, close to Faro airport, with deep blue seas and golden sands this is a great race to start the season. Traditionally a venue that gives early season sunshine but with a wetsuit swim, this weekend looks as if the weather gods have gone on strike and light showers are forecast with a predicted high of 16c. Once again the host hotel will be Hotel Dom José.
The swim is from a beach start and is two laps. These waters really are for the swimmers as the waves can be quite challenging. Despite the sunshine this is usually a wetsuit swim. Standard distance for the Elite and Sprint for the Juniors will decide the medals and points.
A short run up the beach to the palm-tree lined transition area and the athletes will set off on the 6-lap bike course that includes a monster climb to sort out those who just spin along in a pack. For spectators this course is a gift as you can see so much of the race.
Back into T2 and the run is a 4-lap course, which is flat.
The Elite race on Saturday and the Juniors on Sunday.
So, who do we watch out for?
Amongst the Junior Women, highest ranking goes to French athlete Margot Garabedian. She took gold in Holten last year and a top ten place in Edmonton. She has been mixing and matching with the Elite too on the domestic circuit and placed 7th in the French Sprint Triathlon Nationals in September last year. This year she has already posted a 36:22 for 10k and a 17:56 for 1500m and with a recent victory in a domestic aquathlon race, she is in good form and will be feeling confident. With race number 2 is the Norwegian athlete Lotte Miller . She will be coming hungry for international racing after being absent from the ETU circuit for a year. One to watch will be Spanish athlete Carmen Gomez Cortes. Having placed 9th in the Nanjing Youth Olympics and then gaining silver in the team relay, she also has a 5th in Kitzbühel. The Pontevedra athlete has put in solid training over the winter months and the Spanish have every right to expect a good performance.
Lena Meißner from Germany takes 4th spot. Portuguese hopes will rest upon Mafalda Luis Costa , Maria Eduarda Vidigueira, Carolina Serra and Rita Fardilha, who are making their debut on the international scene and Inês Baptista Pereira, who raced as part of the national team relay in Penza last year. One to watch will be the Brazilian athlete Barbara Santos, who had a great victory last week at the 2015 Joao Pessoa CAMTRI Triathlon Junior South American Championships. Her powerful swimming took her into a strong position on the bike and her blistering pace on the run sealed her victory. Most recently she took the Brazilian Aquathlon title.
13 federations are represented and there are 58 on the start list.
The Junior Men will see a massive 75 on the beach for the start. 15 nations will be hoping for medals and once again we see a French athlete ranked highest. Lucas Jacolin raced in Madrid and Edmonton last year with a 10th place in the ITU Grand Final for juniors. His solid swim and bike should place him well up the field. His teammate, Maxime Hueber-Moosbrugger, with a bronze in Kitzbühel, will form a strong duo who could, if they work well together, disrupt the race enough to bring some medals back to France. After this race he heads to China to participate in the World Cross-Country championships, so we can expect some blistering pace on the run.
Wearing number 3 is German athlete Lasse Lührs. He just missed the podium in Kitzbühel and so may well be looking for revenge at this race. Flying the Portuguese flag is Vasco Vilaca. His pace on the bike and run was seen in Penza last year. Italian hopes will lie on Nicola Azzano who narrowly missed out on a podium in Nottingham last year. British hopes will be for James Teagle who took silver in Nottingham.
Junior Women start at 08:45hrs. Junior Men at 10:00hrs on Sunday 22nd.
The Elite races are on Saturday 21st, 13:45 for the women and 16:30 for the men.
The women’s line-up has some big names and some fast runners. Leading the line-up is London-based South African athlete Gillian Sanders. A recent injury will hopefully be sufficiently healed to enable her to show her true pace. Coming from a swim / run background she has been consistent over the years. French athlete Audrey Merle is no stranger to Quarteira, with a silver here last year as a Junior. Her silvers in Kitzbühel, again as a junior and for the relay prepared her well for moving up a category and she added a silver racing Elite in Holten before taking bronze in Edmonton. For the Czech Republic we see Petra Kuříková racing with number 3. With low placings in recent races she will be looking for some early-season success. Racing internationally since 2008 she will know where she can make most impact on this course.
For Ukraine and fresh from a podium is Oleksandra Stepanenko. The recent and spectacular Luxor Sprint Duathlon saw her take gold and then, only last week in Hurghada she took a very comfortable silver. She is joined by Inna Ryzhykh who is reliable in the swim and who can certainly work hard on the bike. They will have to compete against Heather Sellars who made her WTS debut only recently.
17 nations are on the start list. Portugal will have their hopes with Melanie Santos who won here as a junior in 2012. With her will be Ana Filipa Santos, the Portuguese national champion. A big ETU welcome goes out to the athlete from furthest away; Filipina Marion Kim Mangrobang.
The men’s line-up will see 70 athlete representing 19 nations. Amongst them is also a Filipino athlete, Nikko Huelgas but leading the ranking is the immensely powerful French athlete, Aurelien Raphael. He recently set a PB over 10k with 30:20. He is powerful and he is the title holder from this race in 2014. Wearing number 2 will be fellow Frenchman, Dorian Coninx. As U23 World Champion and 2013 Junior World Champion he is a threat to anyone who might regard him as a young pretender. Having arrived on the international scene only in 2011 he has already been on the podium 9 times. It looks like the French Federation has focussed on this early season event to test their athletes and we can expect fierce competition.
British hopes will be focussed on Matthew Sharp, wearing number 3. 2011 was his year with silver in the Viña del Mar ITU Triathlon Pan American Cup, gold in Geneva and the U23 title in Beijing. Since then it has been ‘work in progress’ but with a good winter season behind him his ranking for this race may herald a new turn of speed for the GB athlete. He will be looking to fellow Brit, Mark Buckingham. His gold in Banyoles last year showed his strength and with recent good form on bike and run, these two together could pose a threat to the French. With a podium in Alanya at the end of 2014 and a 5th place in the Havana Sprint, Spanish hopes will be on David Castro Fajardo who also made his WTS debut in the Abu Dhabi race.
The weekend is not just one for the athletes as there will also be am ITU Technical Officials Level I course, which will be delivered by Anabela Santos (PRT) and Jorge Garcia (ESP). This will provide an up-to-date learning experience to national officials who are making the step up to International Level. The two races will be their chance to put theory to the test under the supervision of the course facilitators and under the ever-watchful eye of the Technical Delegate, Lorand Kalotai (HUN).
So, here’s wishing everyone a fair and safe race. Looking forwards to seeing the results and hearing reports from the athletes and officials and once again a big thank you to the Portuguese Triathlon Federation.