Swim! Bike! Run! The British Triathlon Mixed Relay Cup is coming to Nottingham and we've got the low down
On the 2nd of September, 17 teams from Britain and around the world will line up on Victoria Embankment to contest the first ever British Triathlon Mixed Relay Cup. Of course the big draw of the day is going to be British Olympic silver medallist Jonny Brownlee, whose chances of success are greatly enhanced by the fact that his brother, Alistair, isn't taking part.
Normally, athletes compete individually over a race comprising of a 1.5km swim, a 40km bicycle ride and a 10km run but the relay cup sees each team with four members, two male and two female. Each will complete a mini triathlon - 300m swim, 7.5kn bike and 1.5km run before tagging their next team mate. This is still quite a new format in the UK but it is now part of the Commonwealth Games.
Jonny Brownlee fronts a strong Leeds team that also features former ITU Triathlon World Champion Non Stanford and ETU Triathlon European Champion Jess Learmonth. Their main rivals will be another team from Leeds, which features Rio 2016 Olympian Gordon Benson and 2017 ETU U23 Triathlon European Champion Georgia Taylor-Brown and Loughborough, featuring double Commonwealth Champion Jodie Stimpson and local hero Sophie Coldwell, from Keyworth. There are also teams including current World Champions Australia, Canada and Japan, alongside a Nottingham team in the line-up so there will be a fair bit of local interest.
But it's not just the professionals who will be racing as the City Of Nottingham Triathlon precedes the main event and is open to anybody to enter. So, if you're going down to cheer on the pros, get there a bit earlier and cheer on everyone else too! There is also going to be a spectator village with food stalls and free sports activities to try out. So, get yourself down to Victoria Embankment to check out some world class athletes for free!
The British Triathlon Mixed Relay Cup takes place on the 2nd of September
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