Simon: TT ready for Carifta challenge

TT COACH Derek Simon says his athletes are ready to duplicate or improve on last year’s performance, when the second annual Carifta Triathlon and Aquathlon Championships take place at Turtle Beach, in Tobago, tomorrow and Sunday, from 7 am.

Tropical Storm Kirk, which is expected to affect countries such as Barbados and Guadeloupe over the coming days, may affect some of the teams’ strategy during the Championships in Tobago. Simon said his team is expecting some swells and the team is discussing how the storm will affect their plan during the event.

At the inaugural event Guadeloupe placed first, Barbados were second and TT ended third with 13 medals. Athletes will compete in the 11-12, 13-15 and 16-19 age groups in both the triathlon and aquathlon. In triathlon athletes are required to swim, ride and run and in aquathlon they must swim and run.

A total of 42 athletes will represent TT at this year’s event. Some of the athletes that will represent TT are Jenae Price, Dante Pichery, Jorja Jalim, Rebecca Lezama, Rachel Grosberg, Kristin Scott, Logan Raymond, Jean-Marc Granderson, Ayomide Gilbert-Semper, Kareem Mason and Troy Llanos.

They will compete against athletes from Aruba, Antigua/Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Grenada, Jamaica, Guadeloupe and Martinique.

Simon said TT are prepared for the championships saying, “Yeah, definitely (we ready for the challenge). The preparations were very methodical and holistic going into the event...the individual coaches for the clubs were more attentive to the overall fitness of the kids. We dealt with actual race day preparation and readiness. They are on top of the game and everybody is healthy and ready to go.”

Discussing the team improving on last year’s effort Simon said, “That is our intention. After last year’s performance the (TT Triathlon) Federation started the focus along with the club coaches to really try to develop the athletes towards a better showing this year. This has been in the making for some time now and I think we are in a position to either duplicate or even do better.”

Simon said his athletes are familiar with the course, as the course being used for the Championships this weekend is the same course used for the popular Rainbow Cup, which a number of the junior athletes compete in every year.

“It is our National Championship course and the Rainbow Course so the athletes are very familiar with it, so that is one of the advantages we will have over the other islands.”

Simon said he was satisfied with the support the team received from the TT Triathlon Federation and corporate TT, including First Citizens that helped financially.