2016, ETU Triathlon Youth European Championships, ETU Triathlon Junior European Cup, ITU Triathlon World Cup, Tiszaújváros, Hungary
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We have seen a small town come to life in the Netherlands, with a small army of volunteers making the event the “happening” of the Dutch triathlon calendar. For the younger athletes, our foundation of the future we also have something rather special. Tiszaújváros has seen some of the most spectacular and exciting racing over the years and as a triathlon festival, there are few places … oh, OK, there is nowhere in the world in fact, where our sport has become so deeply rooted in the spirit of a town.
ITU President and IOC Member, Marisol Casado says, in her introduction, “This Hungarian town holds a special place in ITU history, as it is the longest running World Cup event, so we could not be more thrilled to be celebrating the 20th anniversary of this race being on the ITU calendar. Over the years, this event has developed from a small triathlon into a summer tradition as the whole region turns out for a festive atmosphere. This year, it continues to be a beloved race amongst both spectators and athletes alike. That great tradition was built by a man who is no longer with us, Gabor Markus. However, his spirit and vision will remain strong with us this weekend, as his triathlon family continues his legacy of hosting one of the best events on the circuit. Once again, Tiszaújváros will serve up an innovative & challenging format. The athletes will compete in a series of sprint distance semi-finals on Saturday, to decide who will fight it out in a sprint – distance final on Sunday. On both days the races will be half the Olympic distance – a 750m swim, 20km bike leg and a 5km run, sure to offer fast and frenetic action. (…)The ITU would like to thank the local organising committee, the Municipality of Tiszaújváros, the Hungarian Triathlon Federation and the sponsors for their help in bringing and hosting this World Cup event in Tiszaújváros, and also helping to grow the sport through innovation. Congratulations on the 20th year anniversary, I hope we return for many more!”
ETU president, Renato Bertrandi, who has done so much work to promote this direction of development for our Youth Athletes, was present for the build-up, the briefing and for the first very exciting day of racing for the Youth Athletes, “It is my great pleasure that I can welcome all athletes, team officials and guests in Tiszaújváros for the first edition of our Youth European Championship Festival, as well as for the Triathlon Junior European Cup and the ITU Triathlon World Cup. Tizzy – as we call Tiszaújváros within the international triathlon family – will celebrate some important “birthdays” this year with the 20th edition of the World Cup race, which put the 50 years’ young city and Hungary itself on the map of triathlon for many years. We are a young sport and the race that has been created here by the vision of Gabor Markus is one of our strongest root in Europe that has helped triathlon to grow and to take it were we are now. I am particularly pleased that as an addition to the 'classic' program of the Junior European Cup and the Triathlon World Cup, we will hold this year the first edition of our Youth Festival.
The old format of the Youth European Championships was also born in Tiszaújváros in the year of 2000 and we are convinced that we could not have chosen a better place to reshape what – according to our vision – will be an annual celebration of the sport by our next generation of athletes. We would like this event more than just competitions, something similar what is happening every year during the Tri-week. To enjoy the time together, to compete in different format, to take part in the active live of host citizens and to use time to exchange ideas about our beloved sport.
We are very grateful for the support from the Local Organizing Committee, the Hungarian Triathlon Union, the Municipality of Tiszaújváros, all the sponsor and last, but most importantly, from the inhabitants of Tiszaújváros. Looking forward to having another great time together!”
John Petrides, Technical Delegate, kept a watchful eye over the athletes. As an organiser in the UK of many events over the years and as one of the numerous British Technical Officials who has been nominated to the senior role of “TD”, he has spent hours working with the LOC to ensure that the delivery of this first ever Youth Festival is spot on.
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“Giving a briefing to 170 youths, most of whom have never been to a European Triathlon Briefing and it is a double one because we have the semis and the finals. There will be three more briefings over the next 7 days.” Petrides will be managing the Youth Festival and the ITU World Cup. A massive undertaking that calls upon him to be absent from work for more than the usual, “long weekend”.
Why is it important to have such events? Well, Cyp Dalli, President of the Malta Triathlon Federation, sums it up perfectly, “Instead of despairing over the fact that we did not have a youth section and bright future for our sport, we at #TriMLT took stock of the situation 3 years ago, came up with a plan (masterminded by National Coach Dermot Galea) and with the help of the European Triathlon Union #ETU and #SportMalta laid the foundation for the Malta Youth Triathlon Academy #MYTA.
The project, thanks to the dedication of a lot of people, especially head coach Matt Azzopardi, took off and developed in a strong, exciting adventure. Today, that project reached another milestone: 3 of its in-bred athletes (Malcolm Vassallo, Shaun Demicoli and Nikol Micallef) left Malta to join other young triathletes from all over Europe to train and learn new skills at the ETU Youth Training Camp in Tiszaújváros, Hungary.
Thank you to #SportMalta especially Robert Portelli (Head of Programmes), all the coaches that worked and are working in this project, and all at the ETU Development Board (Werner Taveirne, Bijuk željko) and the members of TriMLT working behind the stage, especially Oswald Spiteri.
Results might not came in immediately, and results won't certainly come without hard work, discipline and commitment, but the future of Triathlon in Malta today is a little, or a lot, brighter than ever before! The person who will be President of TriMLT after me will certainly be glad to find this project thriving and will continue to foster it for the benefit of all!”
With spectacular racing already completed in Holten and Stockholm today, the youth athletes have been racing and battling for their place in the finals, which are due to take place on Monday. 'There will also be a relay event on Tuesday with a minimum of 21 teams, possibly up to 30. Then, once this has all been finished we start all over again for the Juniors and Elites who will race next weekend”, said Petrides.
The full results from today’s racing can be found here.
We have been very fortunate that Judit Fróna has been able to provide us with a limited selection of images from the semi-final events.
