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British Triathlon will become the first Governing Body in the world to offer a national event exclusively for disabled triathletes when the British Disabled Triathlon Championships supported by Wrigley’s Airwaves® gets underway on 1 June.
The race will take place as part of the Rother Valley Triathlon festival held in Rother Valley Country Park, just outside Rotherham in South Yorkshire. The inclusion of the Disabled Championships is a culmination of years of hard work and recent development projects supported by British Triathlon’s Premier Sponsor, Corus.
British Triathlon and event organisers, One Step Beyond Promotions, will be catering for all categories of disability, which requires all of the athletes needing to be classified. This is either carried out weeks before the event or during the registration process. Organising a race of this nature also has its own issues to overcome, for instance it is surprising how much space a racing wheel chair needs in transition.
Adam Moffat, Director of One Step Beyond Promotions, said: “The festival organisation is going well. Starting any new event is always difficult, let alone one which has seven individual races across a weekend. That said, as an organisation we are excited to be working alongside the Governing Body on this fantastic project, and we look forward to delivering a fun action packed festival of triathlon.”
Under the British Triathlon Disability Classification System there are 48 individual profiles which have been categorised into nine classes, enabling equal and fair competition to take place. The race organisers have already had entries from eight disabled athletes who all signed up in the first month. The aim is to have over 50 athletes competing in the first ever British Disabled Triathlon Championships supported by Wrigley's Airwaves® come June.
Julian Wills, British Triathlon’s National Equity Manager, commented: "The British Disabled Triathlon Championships will be the first comprehensive national championships for disabled triathletes anywhere in the world. The event is a culmination of almost four years development work, and the championships are a milestone in disabled triathlon history. We have many more targets ahead of us, but we are delighted to have reached this one in a relatively short period of time."
Toby Baker, Marketing Director for Wrigley, said: “Wrigley's Airwaves® is proud to be supporting The British Disabled Triathlon Championships this year. The partnership is a perfect alliance between a high intensity competition that challenges competitors both mentally and physically, and a great range of chewing gum products that have been developed to give you an "intense kick” leaving you feeling invigorated and ready for anything. Airwaves® look forward to an extremely successful event.”
About British Triathlon
British Triathlon is the National Governing Body for triathlon, the UK’s fastest growing sport. At international level Great Britain boasts a strong squad of world ranked elite triathletes who regularly achieve international success and has some outstanding young talent emerging from its development programmes. Since becoming an Olympic sport in 2000, British Triathlon has seen annual increases in membership numbers of 10%. There are over 650 triathlon events conducted in Great Britain each year, including the renowned Mazda London Triathlon and Corus Elite Series which attracts athletes from all over the world. For more information visit BritishTriathlon.org.
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