The 2006 New Plymouth BG Triathlon World Cup is set to run this Sunday, November 12th on the island nation of New Zealand. This Sunday will be the fifteenth and final stop of the 2006 BG Triathlon World Cup series as over 100 of the world’s top triathletes will gather in the coastal city to race for valuable Olympic qualification points and prize money.
The Women’s event begins at 12:15 local time (GMT+13) and the men’s event will begin at 14:45 local time.
With the world cup champions already decided, Javier Gomez from Spain and Vanessa Fernandes from Portugal, it is the remaining spots and share of the US$250,000 year-end bonus pool that will be contested. Both Gomez and Fernandes were able to accumulate enough world cup points leading into Sunday’s race to secure first position overall.
In the women’s event, all eyes will be on last year’s world cup champion, Annabel Luxford of Australia, to see if she has fully recovered from a nagging foot injury that has seen her miss most of the 2006 season. She will be helped by her teammate and world championship bronze medalist Felicity Abram.
The large Canadian team, led by top ranked Lauren Groves and Junior world champion Kirsten Sweetland is likely to compete hard for the Canadian women’s first podium finish of the season.
Laura Bennett of the United States will be gunning for a top eight placing to catapult her into third overall in the end of the season rankings.
Of course, the strong Kiwi women’s team of multiple world cup winner, Samantha Warriner, former Under23 world champion Andrea Hewitt, world cup winner Debbie Tanner and rising star Nicky Samuels will all be looking to do well in their home country.
In the Men’s event, hometown hero Bevan Docherty of New Zealand will have a strong team backing his bid to repeat after barely beating out his teammate Kris Gemmell on this same course last year. Docherty is the current Olympic and Commonwealth silver medalist but will face stiff competition from Gemmell, who with consistent results is currently in sixth position in the overall rankings.
Other men to watch include Australia’s Greg Bennett, who is back racing after taking most of the season off with injury, Filip Ospaly of the Czech Republic, who seems to be back to on form after a second place in Cancun, Mexico only a week ago.
Volodymyr Polikarpenko of the Ukraine is always a threat and is known for his late-season surges. This is apparent by his third place in Cancun amongst a stellar field last weekend.
No doubt the international field will put on a great race to end the 2006 season.
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Watch pre-race build up now.