Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi will become the first stop on the prestigious ITU World Triathlon Series for five years from next year, it was announced on Thursday.
The capital has hosted its own international triathlon for the last five years and, to the backdrop of that success, Abu Dhabi Sports Council (ADSC) and the International Triathlon Union have now entered into a five-year partnership to run until 2019.
The World Triathlon Series season opener, which will take place on March 6 and 7 next year, will start from Abu Dhabi Corniche. The series will then go on to nine other cities around the world.
Around 2,400 age group athletes from 100 countries are expected to join the elite athletes in Abu Dhabi next March to compete over two courses — the ‘Olympic’ distance of a 1.5km swim, 40km bike and 10km run or the ‘Sprint’ distance of a 0.5km swim, 20km bike and a 5km run.
The event will be headquartered at the Abu Dhabi Sailing & Yacht Club, where a spectator-friendly environment including a 2,000-seater grandstand, a bike park, a ‘Friends and Family’ area, refreshment kiosks and a kids zone will be built.
The elite event will feature a ‘swim start’ off the Volvo Ocean Race yacht pontoons on Abu Dhabi Corniche, with the top 65 men and top 65 women on the ITU World Series rankings competing for honours.
“The World Triathlon Series represents the ‘best of the best’ — like Abu Dhabi — with the sports elite competing in a 10-city circuit, all striving to become World Champion and qualify for the Olympic Games,” said Aref Al Awani, General Secretary of the ADSC.
“We envisage a host of benefits emerging from this partnership. These include further positioning Abu Dhabi as a destination for world-class sporting events, additional destination exposure among an influential client base and encouragement of our own youth to join in one of the world’s fastest-growing Olympic sports.”
Al Awani also said that holding this event was a natural progression after hosting the Abu Dhabi International Triathlon.
“By implementing such objectives we are reflecting ADSC’s mission to work on the integration between sports and society in order to create a healthy and sportive environment for the community to achieve the plans, ambitions and expectations of the Abu Dhabi Government,” he said.
“This partnership is a natural progression of the success the UAE capital has achieved over the past five years with its own Abu Dhabi International Triathlon, which was organised by Abu Dhabi Tourism & Culture Authority and quickly attained the status of the world’s most glamorous triathlon attracting entries from Olympic and celebrity TV stars.”
