Morocco, China and Kenya complete the Continental Cup Season

Just 2 more weekends of races for Irish Triathletes for this year. Elizabeth Carr is currently entered for one more event in Morocco this weekend, while Luke McCarron looks to be finishing off his season in Hong Kong with James Edgar racing Hong Kong as well but staying in China another week and travelling 600km up the coast for his last race in Xiamen.

Carr comes into the event after an 11th place in Tunisia 2 weeks ago and will be racing many of the same athletes. The field is headed by world number 60 Ivana Kuriackova with the top 3 ranked Japanese athletes racing this weekend choosing Agadir over Hong Kong with 2 of them joining Kuriackova on the Xiamen start list a week later. This is the route for maximum points scoring opportunity, for the right athletes, as Agadir and Xiamen are standard distance with Hong Kong and the other week 2 option, Kilifi in Kenya, being sprints.

While Sprint versus Standard is certainly a consideration for the athletes, the logistics will be a big part of any decision to head for China. Dublin to Hong Kong will take a similar amount of time and be close in price to flight to Kilifi, and the proximity of the second Chinese race probably wins over managing flights through Morocco on to Kenya and back, while for anyone based near a large European hub direct flights to Hong Kong would be appealing.

While most European athletes are staying close to their home time zones for the upcoming races, Edgar and McCarron are among 5 travelling to China along with Felix Duchampt, Bob Haller and Marcin Stanglewicz. Edgar, Duchampt and Haller have all won this year at continental cup level, while McCarron and Stanglewicz have both had Top 10s. 170 points for a Top 3 would go a long way for all those looking to secure World Cup starts next year or move closer to the New Flag ranking currently held by Duchampt.

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