TT triathletes head to 15th Rainbow Cup

TT's top triathletes will compete at the 15th annual Massy Rainbow Cup in Tobago on Saturday.

The competition is open to both regional and international athletes and features a sprint distance triathlon, kids triathlon, olympic distance triathlon, 5k run, and team relays.

Six TT triathletes finished within the top 20 last year for the individual olympic distance triathlon which includes a 1.5k swim, 40k bike ride, and 10k run. These athletes were Jason Costelloe who placed seventh with a time of two hours, 19 minutes; 44 seconds, Dwayne Roach placing thirteenth in two hours, 31 minutes; 41 seconds, Ryan Mendes, fourtheenth - two hours, 32 minutes; three seconds, Jenna Ross, fifteenth - 2 hours, 33 minutes; 39 seconds, and Daniel Koo in ninteenth place with a time of two hours, 38 minutes; three seconds. All athletes are also registered for this year's cup with the exception of Daniel Koo. In addition to this event, Dwayne Roach willl also compete in the 5k run, and Ryan Mendes in the team relay.

Jason Costelloe, who won the the 2019 Bahamas National Championship in May, says he is "ready to go" and hopes to achieve his third national Rainbow Cup title.

"I've been on my game since December," said Costelloe. "I did a half Ironman in March in Puerto Rico, then the Bahamas National Championship in May, and the Caribbean Championship as well."

He says despite his recent hectic schedule, he hopes for the best and wishes to improve his finish time.

"It's very challenging having sometimes three events in one month, having to balance traveling, training," he said. "Your body goes through a lot, it's not easy to balance."

But he says that although this course is "no walk in the park", because of previous experience, he has a fair idea of what his main challenges will be. This will be his sixth Rainbow Cup.

Event organizer Jason Gooding says preparation has been running smoothly, and that the response has been great in terms of registration.

"We started out (the Rainbow Cup) with 45 people and now we outgrew that," Gooding said. "The olympic distance triathlon has about 10 more spots, the sprint has about six more spots, most of the events are sold out."

He named a few athletes to look out for which included Barbados' Jason Wilson, who placed first in the 2018 olympic distance triathlon, Canada's Nina Sieh, and Clement Briere of Martnique.He says he is pleased that a lot of young people are interested in the event.

"We have a lot of talent young people participating this year. I'm happy people still see the value in it," Gooding said. "This cup has had keen value in the development of triathlons in TT."