Awe-inspiring athletes will once again be at the forefront as the 2016 Buffalo City ITU World Paratriathlon gets underway at the Orient Beach on Sunday morning.
It will be competed alongside the 2016 Buffalo City ATU Triathlon African Championships and the 2016 Buffalo City South African Triathlon Champs.
This is the second year the World Paratriathlon event is being held here after the success of the first and due to this it may become a regular on the calendar.
“East London has been such a fantastic venue,” said president of SA Triathlon Debbie Alexander. “It would be fabulous to keep the ITU World Paratriathlon event here and possibly add an Africa Cup to it.
“East London has proved that they can host these events and I would like to see that happen, although it is up to the LOC if they have the energy for it.”
This year’s paratriathlon event is expected to be fiercely contested as it is an Olympic qualifier and athletes will be battling for points to make it to the Rio Paralympic games later in the year.
Every available spot for the event has been filled with 60 paratriathletes, 41 men and 19 women, entered. Five different classes based on disability are competed ranging from PT1 to PT5.
Of the 60 paratriathletes involved only seven are from South Africa, six men and one woman.
Local hopes will rest on the shoulders of Anton Swanepoel in PT1, Dylan da Silva and Sebastian Crawford in PT3, Nicholas Newman in PT4, Stan Andrews and David Jones in PT5, and Catherine van Staden in PT1 on the women's side.
“Two of our paratriathletes are in the running for Olympic qualification – Anton and Stan – they have to be in the top 10 in the world to be eligible and they will have their work cut out for them with some very strong international talent here,” said Alexander.
Sunday's triathlon and paratriathlon action will get under way at 7am, with the paratriathlon event the first to get under way.
Inspirational athletes set to wow city
It will be competed alongside the 2016 Buffalo City ATU Triathlon African Championships and the 2016 Buffalo City South African Triathlon Champs.
This is the second year the World Paratriathlon event is being held here after the success of the first and due to this it may become a regular on the calendar.
“East London has been such a fantastic venue,” said president of SA Triathlon Debbie Alexander. “It would be fabulous to keep the ITU World Paratriathlon event here and possibly add an Africa Cup to it.
“East London has proved that they can host these events and I would like to see that happen, although it is up to the LOC if they have the energy for it.”
This year’s paratriathlon event is expected to be fiercely contested as it is an Olympic qualifier and athletes will be battling for points to make it to the Rio Paralympic games later in the year.
Every available spot for the event has been filled with 60 paratriathletes, 41 men and 19 women, entered. Five different classes based on disability are competed ranging from PT1 to PT5.
Of the 60 paratriathletes involved only seven are from South Africa, six men and one woman.
Local hopes will rest on the shoulders of Anton Swanepoel in PT1, Dylan da Silva and Sebastian Crawford in PT3, Nicholas Newman in PT4, Stan Andrews and David Jones in PT5, and Catherine van Staden in PT1 on the women's side.
“Two of our paratriathletes are in the running for Olympic qualification – Anton and Stan – they have to be in the top 10 in the world to be eligible and they will have their work cut out for them with some very strong international talent here,” said Alexander.
Sunday's triathlon and paratriathlon action will get under way at 7am, with the paratriathlon event the first to get under way.
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