In three days time the resort city of Cancun, Mexico will play host to the fourteenth stop of the 2006 BG Triathlon World Cup series. With only two more world cups left, the second being in New Plymouth, New Zealand the following weekend, the battle for overall world cup champion and the $US250,000 bonus pool is on the line.
The organising committee is pleased with the preparations and is excited to be back after being forced to cancel last year’s event because of Hurricane Wilma. The Olympic-distance triathlon will be held on the southern tip of the peninsula with the 1,500-metre swim, 40-kilometre bike and 10-kilometre run in the Caribbean Sea and flat and fast roadways of Cancun.
In the women’s event, even though Portuguese sensation Vanessa Fernandes has the world cup title wrapped up, after her win at the Beijing world cup a few weeks ago, there are a number of women fighting for positions 2nd thru 5th and their piece of the bonus pool.
Current second place ranked Joelle Franzmann of Germany, American Laura Bennett and Canadian Lauren Groves will all be in Cancun hunting for valuable points to better their chances of staying in the top five and taking home their share of the bonus pool at the end of the year.
In the men’s event, young Spaniard Javier Gomez currently holds a slim lead in the world cup rankings over Australian and Commonwealth Games gold medalist Brad Kahlefeldt of a mere 12 points. Following closely behind in third position is American Hunter Kemper, the 2005 world cup champion, another 12 points down.
Number-one ranked Gomez will race in Cancun to try to cap off his dream season which has thus far seen the 23-year old achieve two world cup victories, two second place finishes and one third place in his break-through year.
Despite having a number of top-five placings, American Kemper will be on the Cancun start line looking for the elusive top of the podium.
Although Kahlefeldt is not scheduled to be on the starting line in Cancun, citing a long season, which started in February, and too much travel as the reasons, he will be racing in New Zealand gunning for his fifth world cup win of the season and the overall series title.
Other men on the start line will be fourth and fifth place Kris Gemmell from New Zealand and Volodymyr Polikarpenko from the Ukraine, both looking for top points.
Other to watch are current European champion Frederic Belaubre of France, 2000 Olympic gold medalist Simon Whitfield of Canada and 2004 world cup champion Dmitriy Gaag of Kazakhstan.
Race Times:
Women’s Event 0745 (local time) November 5th, 2006
Men’s Event 1015 (local time) November 5th, 2006
Current 2006 World Cup rankings – Elite Women
1. FERNANDES, Vanessa (POR) 388
2. FRANZMANN, Joelle (GER) 275
3. SNOWSILL, Emma (AUS) 244
4. BENNETT, Laura (USA) 225
5. GROVES, Lauren (CAN) 220
6. WARRINER, Samantha (NZL) 217
7. WHITCOMBE, Andrea (GBR) 205
8. DITTMER, Anja (GER) 188
9. TANNER, Debbie (NZL) 183
10. HEWITT, Andrea (NZL) 176
Current 2006 World Cup rankings – Elite Men
1. GOMEZ, Javier (ESP) 272
2. KAHLEFELDT, Brad (AUS) 250
3. KEMPER, Hunter (USA) 238
4. GEMMELL, Kris (NZL) 214
5. POLIKARPENKO, Volodymyr (UKR) 208
6. POTTS, Andy (USA) 201
7. BELAUBRE, Frederic (FRA) 194
8. FRODENO, Jan (GER) 162
9. RIEDERER, Sven (SUI) 153
10. DON, Tim (GBR) 139