ITU TRIATHLON GRAND FINAL/ WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP Hosting

the world championships on the 2012 Olympic course has made this year a popular one for age group athletes around the world, who have been clamouring to earn themselves a berth on their national teams for over a year so they can test themselves on the same course that Alistair Brownlee and Nicola Spirig won gold on.

Located in Hyde Park, the sprint course includes a 750 m swim in the Serpentine followed by a 20 km bike and finishing up with a two-lap run around the lake again. The Olympic distance race includes a 1.5 km swim followed by a two-loop, 20 km bike course that passes many London landmarks including Wellington Arch, Buckingham Palace, The Mall, London Eye, the Tower of London, Whitehall and Big Ben. Following the historic tour of London, the athletes finish up with a three-lap, 10 km run.

The elite races serve as the itu Grand Final and will no doubt attract incredibly strong fields. The easy favourites in the men’s field are England’s own Alistair and Jonathan Brownlee, but look for itu series leader Javier Gomez to do his best to mix things up with the two Brits.

With Simon Whitfield out of the picture these days and Brent McMahon moving up to 70.3 racing, Canadian hopes will rest with Kyle Jones and up-and- coming athletes Andrew McCartney and Andrew Yorke.

The women’s race will likely be a bit more wide open. Jodie Stimpson and Non Stanford will represent Great Britain in front of the hometown crowd, but with a United Nations of competitors set to race including perennial Aussie contenders like Emma Moffat and Emma Jackson, itu leader Anne Haug from Germany and many more, this is going to be an exciting race to watch.

With Paula Findlay still struggling to get back to form, Kirsten Sweetland might be our best hope for a top finish in the women’s race along with up-and- comers Amelie Kretz and Joanna Brown.