PANJIM: Billed as India’s only Olympic triathlon giving athletes the full thrill of an open water sea swim, the Goa Triathlon in its second edition will have over 300 Indian and International participants competing alongside each other in the individual as well as team events to win top honours, at the Grand Hyatt, Bambolim, on Sunday.
The event is organized by Goa Outbound Adventures with due recognition of Indian Triathlon Federation in aid of renowned charity Caritas Goa, which runs a home for children suffering from HIV AIDS.
“The Goa triathlon is an Olympic length race with 1.5km swimming, 40km cycling and 10km running. Last year we had a total of 140 athletes but this edition the number has doubled with 310 athletes confirming their participation. The cycle and running leg of the event are electronically timed with RFID timing chips,” informed Elias Patel, one of the organizers, during a press briefing.
The youngest athlete participating is 16 years old while the oldest is 61 years old. The event will start at 6.30 a.m. with swimming followed by cycling and running. Safety is a major concern which will be taken care by lifeguards and rescue of Drishti, Aqua Sail kayak support, dedicated ambulance on call, fully trained doctors and also with the help of Indian Navy.
The entire route from Bambolim to the Goa University will be traffic free from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m.
“The event course will start with a 1.5 km swim from the beach, swim out 750m around a prominent marker buoy or boat and back to the beach. Then, the athletes will have to run with their cycles to the road, do six laps and sub-loops of a circuit – Bambolim slope top – Goa University – Dr Shyama Prasad Stadium, totalling to 40 km. Lastly, the final stage, the 10km run from the Satdium upto a designated turn-around-point and back with the finishing point at Bambolim beach,” informed Joseph Rodrigues, karate instructor and vice-president of the Goa Cycling Association, who will be providing the athletes with cycles.
Ironman and last years winner Pablo Erat will also compete this year along with wife Lucia. Other reputed athletes to watch out for will be Ben Hammond, an ITU finalist from Australia. Samreet Singh, winner of the Hyderabad Triathlon and Madujah Borah-Indian tri-athlete and Olympic participant will also be present.
There are 185 participants in the individual category and over 120 in the team event with almost 50 women participants. There are over 60 registrations from Goa.
The first prize in the individual category is Rs 50,000. Rs 25,000 and Rs 15,000 will be awarded to the runner-up and third place respectively besides a special prize of Rs 15,000 to the first women.
In the team event, Rs 45,000, Rs 25,000 and Rs 15,000 will be awarded to for the first, second, and third places respectively besides Rs 15,000 for the all women team finishing first. All the prizes have been sponsored by GTDC.
There will be participants from Indian cities like Mumbai, Bengaluru, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, Lucknow and International athletes from UK, USA, Germany, Finland, Spain, Russia, Hong Kong, Australia and the Middle East.
A pre-event briefing will be held for the athletes, on Saturday, at Bambolim Beach resort, at 4 p.m.
