While domestically all eyes are on Ironman 70.3 Dublin, internationally we have 4 athletes racing at the Tiszaujvaros ITU World Cup and Junior European Cup.
The men’s race features 4 semi-final heats with the top 7 from each of Saturday’s heats progressing to Sunday’s final, all raced over the sprint distance of a 750m swim, 20km bike and 5km run.
Ben Shaw goes off in heat number 2 ranked 9th so will be aiming to beat that and make it into the top 7 finishers. The big name in Shaw’s heat is Pevtsov of Azerbaijan who finished 3rd at the European Games in Baku.
Heat 2 will also feature Russell While, the Banbridge native is just off the back of a 15th place finish at the U23 European Championships where he rounded out the day with a 32:41 10 kilometre run split.
White will need to be at his best again as he goes into the heat ranked 20th from the 27 starters.
The elite women’s World Cup race sees Limerick lady, Carolyn Hayes lining up in the second heat. Hayes enters the heat ranked 28th of the 30 starters and will be aiming for a top 14 finish in order to make it into Sunday’s final.
16 year old James Edgar is in action in the Junior European Cup race which takes place over the super sprint distance. Edgar is one of the youngest athletes in the field but will be aiming to progress from heat number 2 of 4 and race infront of big crowds on Sunday by finishing in the top 7.
Follow the action on the twitter hashtag #TiszyWC