Jarrod Shoemaker (USA) was the perfect candidate to attend the pre event Press Conference at the 2014 Jiayuguan ITU Triathlon World Cup. The original city and its origins date back many hundreds of years and has witnessed so much Chinese history in that time. Jiayuguan is at the heart of the Silk Road and is home to the most western point of The Great Wall.

Here are the highlights from the press conference:

You had a good result in Chengdu this year in what has otherwise been a disappointing season so far, does that suggest you enjoy the conditions in China?

Shoemaker: I am very excited to be here, I had a good race in Chengdu in 5th place, and this is my second time in China this year so I am looking to improve on that. I really like the course here, it will be a very fair course for the athletes, Chengdu was hot and humid whereas here we have the altitude and it is drier so a little different, but it is a great course.

On the nature of the course, how do you see the race playing out, will it be very fast?

I think it is deceptive, the attitude changes things a bit. We raced in Guatape in Colombia last year at altitude as well and if you go out hard on the swim it makes it very tough for the rest of the race. The course isn’t flat though, it is either up or down on pretty much the whole course and I think it will be tougher than the athletes think and then you have the sun, it will be very hot. I am not sure what will happen, I have a couple of scenarios in my head but I think it will be very fast with a lot of athletes here who are very good, it should be a good spectacle.

On the historic nature of Jiayuguan and its surrounding area:

Luckily we got in on Sunday so on Tuesday we were able to go up to the Pass and see the Great Wall and the Jiayuguan Fort. I was a history major in College so I enjoy seeing history and culture in different places, I was amazed by it, just to know the Silk Road came through there and see all the different things, it was pretty amazing. Beyond the beauty of the area it was cool to see the Great Wall, I have seen it in Beijing so to see it now at its most Western point is pretty cool. I am hoping after the race I can go up and see it where it goes into the Mountains as well. It is a beautiful backdrop for a race, I love going places where there is great history, and this is certainly one of them.