Super League officials hope to spread the ‘gospel of triathlon’ in 2018, after announcing that mass-participation events will form a key part of the Championship Series opener in Jersey.
In addition to the showpiece professional event, which will bring the world’s top triathletes to the Waterfront on 29-30 September, Super League Jersey 2018 will also include age-group ‘Super Sprint’ and ‘Enduro’ races for amateurs, alongside the return of the Corporate Mix relay. Europe’s leading juniors will also be on show in four exhibition races.
The age-group events, scheduled ahead of Day Two of the million-dollar Championship Series, are set to provide up to 700 triathlon fans the chance to compete in men’s, women’s and relay races on sections of the premier Super League course.
Fintan Kennedy, Jersey’s SLT partner, said: ‘Super League feel like they have a commitment to Jersey to provide a community aspect as well – it’s not just about the pro event.
‘We want to try to spread the word, the gospel of triathlon throughout the community and ultimately make it a 360-degree festival, developing something for the whole weekend before the Jersey Marathon. It will be a week of sport, rather than just the Super League and then the marathon separately a week later [7 October].
‘We’re aiming to get 1,000 children involved on the Friday night for an event which will be announced shortly, and we’ve got two different formats for the age-groupers.
‘Only last week we had the “Try-a-tri” event, which had an amazing turnout. The sport just continues to grow and become more popular and it will improve tourism numbers, not just for the pro event but in getting age-groupers over from the UK too.
‘We’re trying to engage with everyone. The Super League DNA now includes participation, and we’re hoping to get 600-700 people doing it.’
The age-group Super Sprint events will send amateur triathletes on a 400m swim, 10 km cycle and 2.5 km run, with the Enduro event requiring those distances to be covered twice. Men’s, women’s and mixed relay classes will also be included.
