Bahrain gear up for more action

Manama : After strong showings last week from Caroline Steffen finishing second at Ironman 70.3 Subic Bay and Ben Hoffman sixth in Ironman 70.3 Buenos Aires, Bahrain Endurance 13 ramps up racing this weekend with five athletes in action.

Four of them are racing the inaugural Super League Triathlon event on Hamilton Island, Australia. Javier Gomez, Alistair Brownlee, Terenzo Bozzone, and Brent McMahon over three days against the world’s champion athletes and best newcomers.

Brownlee and McMahon are both kicking off their racing season in the Super League Triathlon.

McMahon says, “The Super League Triathlon promises to be challenging and fast and I’m looking forward to both. This will be a great way to kick off the year.” 

The Canadian with four sub-8 hour Ironman finishes will need to start off hot, unlike the usual build into a long day associated with long-course triathlon.

Brownlee is more familiar with the heart-pumping, lung-busting sprinting needed for Super League Triathlon’s challenges, but his main concern is now the island’s unique terrain and climate. 

He says, “Arrived on an island that looks like heaven, but the course in the heat will be hell over three days.”

Gomez has flown up from Sydney, where he has been preparing for the race. “After 20 years of triathlon racing, I am very excited to race a new format in a spectacular place and against the best triathletes in the world,” the Spaniard says.

Bozzone is already anticipating the pain from all-out racing over short distances. “This is going to be a whole new world of hurt for all of us and I am honoured to have made the cut to compete with the best athletes in the world and see how the weekend unfolds,” said the Kiwi.

The athletes will be racing across three formats: Triple Mix, Equalizer, and Eliminator. Each format presents a different order from the usual swim-bike-run progression, which will challenge their race tactics, fitness, and ability to recover.

Meanwhile, Fredrik Croneborg is in Taitung, Taiwan for Ironman 70.3 Taiwan and will be the Swede’s first half-distance triathlon of the year, and he’s made sure to be fit for it. “It’s a really good start list in Taiwan this year -- the best in the history of the race,” said the Swede who won the race in 2013.