Cardiff based athletes Zoe Thomas and Fenella Langridge head to Rotterdam in the latest round of the ETU cup
This weekend see’s Rotterdam host the latest round of ETU Cup events and the Paratriathlon World Championships.
In 2017 Rotterdam will be the final venue on the World Triathlon Series calendar where athletes will be fighting it out for the title at the Grand Final.
American Kirsten Kasper, a member of last weekend’s American Mixed Relay World Championship team in Hamburg, will head up the women’s 2016 ETU Cup race joined by Belgian Claire Michel who has been on the podium twice at a World Cup and the 2011 European U’23 champion Russia’s Alexandra Razarenova.
British interests lie with Cardiff based athletes Zoe Thomas, a recent ETU U’23 Team Relay silver medallist who has been selected for the 2016 FISU World University Championships, and Fenella Langridge, who secured a top 10 position in Weert when the ETU cup series was in Holland a month ago.
Georgia Taylor-Brown a multiple medal winning junior athlete will be racing for the second time in 2016 and is the third British athlete on the start list. The women’s field features a number of strong individuals who all have a chance of performing well in this sprint distance event at the weekend.
And the British contingent will be looking to race at the sharp end all the way until the finish line.
The men’s race see’s around 60 athletes taking to the start line with Francesc Godoy being ranked number 1 fresh off his silver medal at last weekend’s Mediterranean championships. Local interest is in the shape of seven Dutch men with Marco Van De Steel ranked number 4 looking to race well.
British athletes, much like the women, will be contesting at the front of the race with Stirling’s Marc Austin looking to build on his solid top 15 result at the 2016 European Championships in Lisbon. Fellow countryman, and recently selected to the World University Championships, Douglas Roberts will be looking to continue with his strong 2016 performances in Holland. Beau Smith who has the pedigree to be right at the front after the swim and Jimmy Kershaw, a junior athlete in 2015 who made all of the British Triathlon junior European Triathlon and Duathlon and World Triathlon and Duathlon teams will be looking for a solid race to build on in his first year as a senior athlete.
More information on the 2016 Rotterdam ETU Sprint Triathlon can be found here
Article by Andy Lane
