Paratriathlon. One athlete is all it takes.

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Competing internationally as a triathlete is an expensive game. Paratriathlon, with additional costs to transport added equipment, tandem bikes, support staff and guides for the event, is never going to be easy on the pocket. However if you play the game right the rewards can be very good.

The Africa Triathlon Paratriathlon Cup Blue Bay this weekend has a potential 12 medal events but will only have 5 athletes competing across 4 classifications. Each of the 4 winners will receive 350 World Ranking points, only 6 points less than 4th place in a World Cup. 

While there is a catch, there are no Paralympic points towards Paris available at this level, athletes can make substantial moves up the World Ranking. There is potential to move into the Top 20, or even Top 5 in some classes, in the World Ranking, without ever competing against another athlete.  

Currently the top athletes, who are scoring heavily in higher rated events, generally travel as little as possible, cost being an obvious reason. Lower ranked athletes may only do 1 or 2 races a year and stay within their continent. This opens the door to federations and athletes with the resources to aggressively target events, not only to score points, but to be seen to be supporting events and the World Triathlon. 

This is simply a reality at this time, not a negative on any athlete. In fact the more athletes who do compete in these events the greater the publicity for the sport and the bigger the attraction. Every athlete really does count. This can be seen with the dramatic increase in the quality of field, particularly on the men's side, in Elite African Cups since Tokyo, where before points were relatively easy to come by.

While the athletes will still have to do the simple things right, follow the course, check penalty boards and finish, there is little pressure on performance. In a sport with a different course every day, every hour even, there is no personal best time or other measurable performance metric racing yourself. Indeed there is likely a detraining effect from long haul travel and recovery. However Judith Maccombe and Oliver Gunning will move up 4 and 3 places respectively in PTVI, and Cassie Cava, in a field of 2, will move into the Top 10 in PTS3. 

These ranking effects can have significant impact on future race entries and this is why it is important to play the game right and chose your events wisely, scores this weekend will hold value for 2 years. This could have implications beyond Paris on how an athlete starts their Los Angeles 2028 campaign.

Paratriathlon in Paris will have also 16 places available at the invitation of the Bitartite Commission. You can never put your name, image or likeness in front of the decision makers too often, or generate too much PR for yourself and sponsors.

Good luck to all the athletes this weekend and in the future. You can only compete with those who chose to enter and make the most of your opportunities.

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