A number of Bermuda Age Groupers and 16-19 Elite Juniors Tyler Smith and Erica Hawley will be joining Flora Duffy in Cozumel, Mexico for next week’s International Triathlon Union’s World Championships.
For Duffy these championships will be the culmination of an outstanding season that exceeded her own expectations.
The World Championships is an event in its own right but is also the final race in the ITU’s World Series.
Duffy is currently the leader in this series but, with double points awarded for the world championships, if Olympic gold medalist Gwen Jorgensen of the USA (currently 2nd in the rankings and a hot favorite to win in Cozumel ) wins in Cozumel then Duffy will have to finish second to win the World Series.
Smith and Hawley’s hard work has also paid off as they have both had excellent seasons including 7th place finishes last Sunday at the Edmonton race in the Canadian Junior Elite Series.
They both competed in the Junior Elite category in Chicago last year and had to qualify for these 2016 championships in the North and Central America Region which was in itself a real achievement, so they won't be overawed by the occasion. Much will depend on how good their swims are as that will determine which group they are in on the bike. Their run times to date, whilst much improved, have not matched the leading contenders but if they got off the bike at or near the front then they have a good chance of a strong placing.
Seven Age Groupers will also be representing Bermuda including former Bermuda multiple times national champion and Commonwealth Games participant Karen Smith (Women 45-49 Age Group) who will be competing in the Sprint (750m Swim, 20km Bike and 5km Run) Championships.
Joining Smith in the Sprint Championships will be Kent Richardson (Men’s 55-59). Richardson has been taking in some of the Thursday night sprint races and also showing good form.
In the Standard / Olympic distance championships (1500m Swim, 40km Bike, 10km Run) Maria Duffy (Women’s 60-64) narrowly missed out on a top ten finish at last year’s World Championships and will be hoping to break into the top ten as in 2015 she finished 11th just 10 seconds out of 10th place and 13th seconds out of 9th place.
Joining Duffy in the Standard Distance Championships will be Becci Shepherd (Women’s 40-44), Sarah Ruberry (Women’s 40-44), Louise Wells (Women’s 40-44) and Steve Smith (Men’s 40-44).
