The USA
Triathlon Race to Athens series
makes a stop in New York on Sunday.
The race is one of five International Triathlon Union (ITU) Continental
Cup races scheduled to be held in the United
States this year.
Among those elite triathletes scheduled
to compete are U.S. Olympic
nominee Victor Plata (pending U.S. Olympic Committee final approval) from
San Luis
Obispo, Calif., top U.S. triathlete Doug Friman and Australian Olympic
team member and 2000 Olympian Loretta Harrop.
U.S. Olympian Sheila Taormina (Livonia, Mich.) is also
in town, but, due to injury, will compete as part of a charity relay team
rather than doing the full elite race.
The elite race will see the athletes swim the Hudson
River from 101st
Street to 81st
Street. They will transition and ride
one lap on the Henry Hudson Parkway before
the second transition in Central Park. The run
will be three laps through the park before finishing between Tavern on
the Green and the Central Park band shell. Athletes will be
competing for a $30,000 prize purse and ITU Continental Cup ranking points.
Athletes must be
ranked in the ITU top 125 to qualify for the Olympic Games. Qualifying
for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens is over,
so points gathered now will go toward a future ranking for the 2008 Games
in Beijing.
The elite race will be preceded by the Ford New York City Triathlon for
age group triathletes. That race will start at 6 a.m. The elite women are scheduled
to start at 8 a.m., followed
by the men at 9 a.m.
For more information, check out www.nyctri.com
<http://www.nyctri.com/
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