Geelong ITU Sprint Triathlon Premium Oceania Cup Preview and Start Lists

The ITU Sprint triathlon being held this weekend at Geelong is looking like a great race. Fresh from his win last weekend in New Zealand over the same distance and up against many of the guns he will be racing again this weekend is Aaron Royle, Royle led the race in Kinloch, NZ from start to finish. His swim was very quick and he

backed himself on the bike even though he was unsure of how his legs would hold up off the bike. He ran in to T2 and immediately knew he would be good. The rest, as they say, is history and Aaron chalked up a solid win.

This weekend will see more Aussie’s racing in an attempt to make a name for themselves with the Olympic selection still not finalised.

England’s Will Clarke, NZ’s James Elvery, France’s Laurent Videl and Slovakia’s Richard Vagra (to name a few) will mean the large Australian contingent will not have it all their own way.

This will also be the first opportunity for us to see Brendan Sexton in a highly competitive environment. Sexton is the name being thrown around as one potential Olympic team member. Chris McCormack was the fourth Australian home last weekend in NZ and 6th overall. He will be looking to swim stronger this weekend in Geelong and make sure he doesn’t miss the first bunch. His run was competitive last weekend but maybe it could have been quicker if he didn’t have to work as hard on the bike to get back in to the race.

Courtney Atkinson has a lot to race for in the first few months of this year. We will see how he goes against a more competitive field after his hit out in Queensland recently.

To be honest there are just too many great Australian triathletes racing in the men’s race too mention all of them. Apologies. But if we are going to touch on a few names they would be Cameron Good,Drew Box, James Seear, Jamie Huggett and more. But then we run the risk of missing out guys like David Mainwaring who is running very quick right now. Good finished just behind Drew Box, Ryan Fisher and Atkinson recently in a ‘short’ sprint race.

It will also be great to see some of the younger guys and girls getting some race experience. Big Sam Douglas from Sydney has been battling Michael Murphy all summer in NSW. Murphy (who finally got on Twitter last week) is running very quick. After showing a lot of promise 3 years ago Murphy had some major injuries and is now getting back to the form that promised so much back then.

The women’s race will also be a very competitive affair. Great Britain’s Liz Blatchford and New Zealand’s Andrea Hewitt will make sure that the Australian girls are pushed to the limit. Emma Moffatt is our biggest name racing. That is not to take anything away from Erin Densham, Ellie Salthouse, Ashleigh Gentle and the other women who will be wearing the Australian colours. The girls from NSWIS who are coached by Jamie Turner will also make a strong showing. Natalie Van Coevorden, Tamsyn Moana-Veale both took podiums in the Under 23 and 19 categories last weekend in NZ and are learning a lot which is paying dividends. Not racing this weekend is Emma Jackson who has decided to rest and Emma Snowsill is also not racing.

The men’s and women’s start lists are below. These lists are not finalised and do not take in to account any non starters.