Europe Triathlon

A city-centre triathlon?                                                  Yes, please.

This June sees Bucharest come onto the ETU calendar for the first time. A city-centre race, with the location in the very heart of the Romanian capital, will offer junior athletes the chance to collect valuable points and medals in front of a massive audience. The LOC estimates the event will attract many thousands of spectators who will line the bike and run courses that are held tightly within the confines of Alexandru Ioan Cuza Park.

There have been events held here in the past and the National Federation, led by their President, Peter Klosz has been working closely with the organisers to ensure that the event planning and preparation is all on time.

The national championships have been held there, with victories going to Antoanela Manac and Ciprian Balanescu.

They might have taken the titles but for the many hundreds of athletes who grabbed the chance to race in their capital city, everyone was a winner.

The Mayor of the 3rd District, which governs the park, Robert Sorin Negoiță has given his full support for the event. A successful businessman and staunch supporter of youth, he has been a politician since 2004 and mayor since 2012. He will be delighted to see once again such a big sporting event in his part of town.

The whole idea of promoting our sport is to create a legacy. Within Romania we have seen a massive increase in participation as events grow in size and improve in quality. The growth of triathlon in Romania has seen many more people take up the sport and city authorities are now seeing the value of giving support to organisers.

If we look back at the legacy of Târgu Mureș, which started as a small event, grew into the Balkan Championships and then developed into back to back European Championships over 2016 and 2017, we notice that the same energy extends across Romania. This year Târgu Mureș will see another top-class event but our focus will be on Bucharest as the local club there, Titans Triathlon see their hard work over the years translated into the first step onto the international ladder.

The ETU Junior European Cup will be the main attraction in terms of international focus but the whole weekend will be one to celebrate triathlon for all ages and abilities.
Friday will be a day for course familiarisation and the Athletes’ Briefing. Click this link to see the Athletes’ Guide.

• Saturday will see kids’ races in the morning for all categories in the 9 – 13 age range.
• The ETU Junior Women will race the sprint distance at 13:30, with the Junior Men starting at 15:30.

A swim in the lake, which is remarkably clean, despite its city-centre location, will be followed by a fast, flat but technical 6-lap bike course to end with the 3-lap run course.
Viewing for spectators will be excellent and the ability to move from location to location within the park means that you will be able to see much more of a race than usual. The medals will be presented on the Saturday evening and the team will have a short time to rest before they start work the next day.

• Sunday will be busy with the Open Youth Category (14-16yrs) race first thing. Then comes the relay and para race, over a super-sprint distance. The Relay is expected to see over 300 teams, many of them businesses in the corporate challenge, chase the €3,000 prize-pot. The Age Group Sprint is followed by an Age Group Standard distance race.

There are still spaces available in the Open Races and if you are interested in racing either the relay, sprint or standard events, please check out the LOC website or contact the event organisers, who speak English and will be able to help you.

Be part of the legacy. Race in the city centre. With so many low-cost airlines now flying into Bucharest, it is easy to get there and quite inexpensive. There are still spaces available in the ETU Junior Cup but hurry.
 

Thanks to Cristi Radu for his excellent photos.

• Marius Grigore, President of the LOC +40 723 047523, marius.grigore@titanstriathlon.ro
• Bogdan Manea, Athlete Services Manager, +40 757 744452, bogdan.manea@titanstriathlon.ro