By BRENT STUBBS
Senior Sports Reporter
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
IN preparation for the CARIFTA triathlon to be staged in The Bahamas in August, the Sea Waves Triathlon Club will stage the Beautiful Bahamas Triathlon at Jaws Beach on Sunday.
And even though organiser Shirley Mireault said they have not been able to secure the funding that they needed, they intend to make this third event hosted by their club a major success as they prepare the local athletes for the CARIFTA triathlon.
The event starts at 7:30am, but interested persons have until today to register to compete in the 8-and-under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-15, 16-19 and adult categories for boys and girls and men and women.
There will also be a category for the Paralympians and a high school relay segment. “This is a qualifier for the CARIFTA triathlon that we are hosting in August and also for the Youth Commonwealth Games in early August in Trinidad,” Mireault said. “We have a short list of three girls and three boys who can qualify for that.
“So we are making them do the same distance that they will be going in the international competition. So they will be competing against each other.”
Mireault said although they haven’t gotten as many entries as they anticipated, especially in the adult categories as they prepare for the Bahamas National Championships in a few weeks, they are still looking forward to some exciting competition across the board.
While CARIFTA will comprise the triathlon, aquathlon and team triathlon, Mireault said the Sea Waves Triathlon Club will forgo the staging of the aquathlon until May 20 around the roads of the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex.
“This is the second of three qualifiers for the CARIFTA triathlon,” she noted. “The final one will be the nationals in May. We have a lot of kids who are eager to participate in the event, so we are looking forward to their participation this weekend.”
Without the sponsorship that they had anticipated, Mireault said they are still pushing forward to make this an exciting event for all of the participants.
“We are still running this event because the kids need the opportunity to compete,” she said.
“We only have four triathlons for the year. We started with the Potcake Triathlon, we have our event, then there’s the nationals in Grand Bahama and then we have the Conchman in November.”
The Manta Water Polo team normally participates in the team competition, but Mireault said they are travelling this week to compete in an international meet, so they won’t be able to participate. So she said they are appealing to the schools to enter their teams.
“I’m very disappointed that we are not getting the financial support, but we will still put on a very highly competitive event,” Mireault summed up. “We are encouraging the public to come out like they did for CARIFTA and support our triathletes.”
Mireault thanked Bahama Blu for supplying water, National Fencing for materials for the bike racks, SwapaCrop for their monetary donation and t-shirts for the volunteers, Bahamas Waste for the portable toilets, BASRA for water, the Nassau Rowing Club and Lyford Cay students for providing kayak assistance and Cycles Unlimited for making themselves available to assist with bike repairs.
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