Posted: July 7, 2006

Triathlon: The Race of Champions

Edmonton hosts ITU World Cup Race July 9th

CANADA, Edmonton – Edmonton, Canada is dubbed as the “City of Champions” and the 2006 Edmonton BG Triathlon World Cup is no exception with past and present World, Oceania, Asian, Pan American, European, Commonwealth and Olympic champions gathered in the provincial capital.

People at home can tune into TriCast™ Live! and catch live audio commentary, timing, photos and text updates from Edmonton, by visiting triathlon.org.

One hundred and fifteen athletes, including two-time world champion and Commonwealth Games gold medallist Emma Snowsill from Australia and Olympic gold medallist Hamish Carter from New Zealand, will race for valuable Olympic qualification points on the “Road to Beijing” this Sunday.

Last year’s winner Snowsill is back and looking to follow up her dominating performance in South Africa only a few weeks ago, where she blew the field away winning by three and a half minutes. Pressuring Snowsill, however, will be Pan American champion Kathy Tremblay (CAN), Asian champion Hongni Wang (CHN) and Oceania Champion and team-mate Rina Hill (AUS).

Commonwealth Games silver medallist Samantha Warriner from New Zealand and top-ranked Lauren Groves from Canada will also be on the start line to grab their share of the US$100,000 prize purse.

Look for Great Britain’s Andrea Whitcombe, who has finished in the top ten twenty times in her career but has reached the podium only twice. She has just missed twice this season with fourth place finishes in Mazatlan and Autun.

The women’s race will start at 1:15pm MST (GMT-7)

In the Men’s race, Olympic champion Carter will be joined by Frederic Belaubre (FRA), who is fresh off a win at the recent European Championships, and Pan American champion Paul Tichelaar (CAN).

The United States has a strong team in Edmonton led by 2005 ITU World Cup series champion Hunter Kemper and Under23 world champion Jarrod Shoemaker. Last year’s silver medallist Matt Reed is also on the start list.

Carter is looking to race strong, however, with his team-mates Bevan Docherty (NZL), Olympic and Commonwealth Games silver medallist and two-time Junior world champion Terenzo Bozzone along side.

Craig Walton (AUS), who has always raced well on the Edmonton course and who just returned to racing recently, withdrew only days ago citing a flare up of recurring medical issues.

The men race will start at 3:30pm MST (GMT-7).

The Edmonton BG Triathlon World Cup has become a staple of the world cup circuit with this, their fifth world cup after hosting the 2001 ITU Triathlon World Championships

Full start lists are available at Triathlon.org.

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