Dr Garth McIntyre – New President of the Barbados Federation of Island Triathletes (BFIT) declared at One Barbados Place how the 2024 Barbados Triathlon calendar will feature three major regional and continental events:
- The World Triathlon Americas Triathlon Cup, 17th March.
- World Triathlon Development Regional Cup and Training Camp, 2nd-7th July
- CARIFTA Triathlon, Aquathlon & Mixed Relays Championships, 17th-18th August
The World Triathlon Americas Triathlon Cup, 17th March
This event will attract elite triathletes from the Americas looking to increase their points scores heading into the Olympics selection process. 50-60 athletes are expected to participate with large contingents from Canada, the USA, Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, and Brazil. A significant prize purse provides added incentive.
Importantly, this event will support the objective of having Barbados Olympic Triathlon hopeful Matthew Wright earn additional points for Olympic qualification.
Awarded the prestigious BOA Senior Male Athlete of the Year award in 2023, Wright has been deemed as the clear front-runner to claim the Americas male New Flag Olympic slot. With a buffer of almost 500 points, he will head into 2024 as the prohibitive favourite to claim the New Flag place.
Currently, Wright is ranked 49th in the world. With 1888 points (rounded to the nearest integer), Wright has the second-best ranking of any man across the five New Flag races. After finishing 2nd at the Hong Kong Asia Cup recently, he has boosted his total to 1948 points and is the only New Flag contender to stand inside the top-50 of the men’s world rankings.
BFIT also expect some of their up-and-coming local and overseas juniors will take the opportunity to measure themselves against athletes who are further along the development pathway.
World Triathlon Development Regional Cup and Training Camp, 2nd-7th July
This event attracts 25-30 athletes, ages 16+, from Caribbean countries such as Trinidad, Jamaica, Aruba, Bahamas, Grenada, and the Bahamas. This is a development event approved by the World Triathlon Executive Board to support developing nations’ racing experience in their continent/region.
This is the second year in which this camp is being held in Barbados. Last year’s race saw the two top podium spots going to Barbados’ Niel Skinner and Fynn respectively, with Barbados taking second and third place in the women’s race with Isis Gaskin and Chara Hinds.
CARIFTA Triathlon, Aquathlon & Mixed Relays Championships, 17th-18th August
Approximately one hundred and fifty (150) athletes, their families and supporters are expected in Barbados come August next year when the 6th CARIFTA Triathlon & Aquathlon comes back home to Barbados in 2024.
First staged in 2017 in Barbados, the event has so far been held in Tobago (2018), Jamaica (2019), Bermuda (2022) and the Bahamas in 2023.
Barbados has dominated the last two events, capturing overall team golds in both 2022 and 2023, with a 15-medal haul, including 8 gold medals in the Bahamas in August. In the first staging since COVID, a small team of thirteen participated in the games in Bermuda in 2022, with the team growing to twenty-three this year for the Bahamas competition.
Having CARIFTA Triathlon here in Barbados next year will drive interest in the sport, and potentially position Barbados as a force to be reckoned with in triathlon in the Americas. We have a growing cadre of youth athletes who have the potential to go international.
Beyond that BFIT’s objective is to extend our reach into the community to broaden participation in triathlon and to provide opportunities to Barbadian youth.
As one of the fastest growing sports internationally, triathlon is rapidly becoming a sport of choice for athletes who can combine the core attributes of swimming and running, with riding, as a route to athletic and academic achievement, with an increasing availability of scholarships at overseas Universities.
Leave a Reply