EVANS’ STARS AND STRIPES HOMECOMING
AMERICA’S aspiring Olympic triathletes are making themselves at home in Geelong under the tutelage of elite homegrown coach Jarrod Evans.
Evans, who has been Team USA’s Olympic triathlon coach for the past five years, has returned home with half a dozen athletes as they kick off their season Down Under.
“It’s a very comfortable place to come back to,” Evans said.
“We travel all over the world with regards to training locations and, because I’m from here, this is one of the places we can jump off the plane and things become easy straight away.
“A lot of the early season racing is in the Oceania region — Australia, New Zealand and Asia — and as the seasons change, we progress to the United States and Europe, so this is the first stop.
“We’ve used the Victorian Triathlon Series so far as training, which has been great. All the ITU events start in March, so everything we’re doing now is in preparation for their season starting in March.”
Next year’s Toyko Olympics is the goal for all of Evans’ athletes, with this year’s Pan American Games in Peru to provide an excellent guide on how their preparations are coming along.
Meanwhile, Sarah Alexander will represent the US at Sunday’s Ironman 70.3 Geelong to give herself an elite endurance base to work with over the northern hemisphere winter.
“Our national team has 16 team members in it, so the athletes I’ve brought here in years prior are ranked No.2 and No.6 in the world, so coming to Geelong is a crucial part of their development because it’s such a great training environment,” Evans said.
“The fact we’ve got Kardinia Pool, the running track, the ocean just here — Geelong actually plays a really important role in the development of the US athletes for the ITU season, which starts at that March period.
“They really enjoy it. We took them to an animal park on Saturday and they did the kangaroos and koalas.
“Strangely, that misinformed American still exists where they think we all have kangaroos and koalas as pets. It’s not even a joke, it’s still a quite common thought process.
“This is their job, but we try and not just bury them in training and racing all the time.
“Whether it’s Geelong and the Surf Coast or whether it’s New Zealand next month or Europe, we try and add some elements in that the local community brings to the table.”
Evans said it was also enjoyable on a personal level to return home, where his parents still live.
“It’s fantastic. All my friends are here, my family’s here and work pays for it,” he said. “Other than the weather, I love coming home to Geelong. It’s like anyone that does an international job.”