Europe Triathlon

For most of us, the main focus of the weekend was the Elite Race. Points were won, prize-money gratefully received and the athletes from all over Europe came, raced and left, with fond memories of the city that has its roots way back in time. However, it is the future that is being focussed upon by the City Authorities and the Turkish Federation.

The full support of the region was given to the event, with Vahdettin Özkan, the Governor of Isparta, Abdullah Akdaş, the District Governor of Eğirdir, Ömer Şengöl, the Mayor of Eğirdir, Hamdi Güneş President of Turkish Triathlon Federation and Murat Gevrek, Provincial Director of Youth and Sports taking an active role in the presentation of medals. ETU Treasurer, Alicia García Pérez, was present as representative of the ETU President, Mr Renato Bertrandi.

Vahdettin Özkan, Governor of Isparta, stated that the potential for the province for this type of sports is high and thanked the municipality for its hospitality. He also said that such sporting events were not only a great contribution for tourism but had also a great cultural impact.

Ömer Şengöl, Governor of Eğirdir provided a general evaluation at the end of the races and stated that triathlon, as a sport, was very important in promoting province and that significant development in this area will take place in following years.

The city representative for triathlon, Çetin Meydan, announced that there was great interest for the races in the past. The European Cup in 2007 had 19 competing nations, in 2008 there were 23 nations and in 2009 18 nations. He also stated that he was very happy to see so many nations come tor ace in 2015 and expected to see many more when the event is held in 2016.

ETU can see here that the region is fully supportive of our sport and that, with a close working relationship between the Turkish Triathlon Federation and the authorities, local, regional and national, there are very positive moves being made in Turkey.

This year also saw more steps being taken along the road of development within the sport in Turkey. The Organisers held Corporate Races for teams. On 15 August, the day before the international competitions, three companies put forward teams to race. On behalf of GOLBELDE LTD. STI; Alper Tolga Köksoy was the swimmer, Mehmet Zeki Sarı cycled and Batuhan Yumaklı ran. For ETUDOSD; R. Fergan Demirok swam, Ahmet Yaman cycled and Said Onur Becer ran. For MAREM; İsa Eren swam, Sinan Butar cycled and the runner was Şafak Sekmen.  Bringing corporate teams into our events is a major developmental area, as we can show our sport to people who might not be ready to participate in a full triathlon but who, by being part of a team, can really get the taste for the sport.

Children’s’ events took place, Age Group events took place and a ParaTri wave was also provided. This shows a full commitment from the Turkish Triathlon Federation to development of our sport.
Alongside the racing were a number of cultural events. Concerts were held over three days to packed audiences.

In the concert held on 15th in Eğirdir castle, Esma Er took part by both being compere and performing songs. Delek Kavraal and Aydan Akbay took their places on stage. Lastly, Yusuf Güney entertained all the guests with his songs. 

The second of concert for the International Eğirdir Triathlon race were organized on Saturday, 16 August 2015.  Popular singer Gökçe was on the stage with Esma Er as presenter, meanwhile Aydan Akbay, Olcay Ağırbaş and Meltem Erensoylu entertained the audience with their songs.

On the final day of the Eğirdir Classical Music Festival, thirty five musicians who had attended the course and their eight trainers performed for the Classical Music Festival.

It is clear that in a city with thousands of years of history the notion of “legacy” is well-understood and that with strong support locally, regionally and nationally triathlon has a great future not only in Turkey but especially in Eğirdir.