The Bahamas Triathlon Association (BTA) was only able to have one triathlon competition staged this year but once the COVID-19 pandemic slows down, organizers hope to have three more competitions, later this year.
The only event to be held, before the pandemic brought a screeching halt to competition, was the Beautiful Bahamas Triathlon, Duathlon and Aquathlon competition hosted by the Sea Waves Triathlon Club back in February.
BTA President Dorian Roach said they are hoping to have a meet by the end of the year.
“Obviously, it’s tough because we haven’t really made any decisions because we don’t know what’s going on. So, what we have done is, obviously, we canceled our nationals, which was in May. We do not plan on having one this year. We’d like to have some kind of event at the end of the year, especially for the kids who have been training, to give them something to do and to give them something to gauge themselves on. We still have been training on the weekends from the beach when it was open – obviously it’s closed again – and, obviously, riding and running,” Roach said.
Roach is expecting the Potcakeman Triathlon and the Conchman Triathlon to take place because they are the two most popular triathlon competitions in The Bahamas. The Potcakeman Triathlon was slated for March 29 at Jaws Beach on New Providence. The Conchman Triathlon is slated for early November of this year at Taino Beach in Freeport, Grand Bahama.
All those events are based on how much progress the country makes in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roach said he found ways to keep the triathlon association busy during the pandemic like doing Zoom sessions and connecting with the International Triathlon Union (ITU), which is the international body that governs triathlon.
“We’ve been organizing Zoom events every Thursday, whether it’s a training session or a meeting. One session has been on building clubs and the session this Thursday is going to be on training development. So, we will be doing stuff every Thursday to keep active and to get some training going on. They’re doing very well at that. During lockdown, we were doing virtual rides at home through Zoom, where we get together and we were on video,” Roach said.
He and his brother Cameron Roach were leading those sessions. The president said it has been difficult, as they look to keep the athletes motivated, in shape and positive, as there are no immediate goals to look forward to.
The CARIFTA Triathlon and Aquathlon was set to take place next month on the island of Bermuda but that, like other meets, had to be canceled due to the pandemic. Roach said he stayed in touch with those CARIFTA athletes during the lockdown.
“A lot of them, we are still in touch with them,” Roach said. “A lot of them are still training and then the group in Freeport, I know they’re still training, at least up to this point, before they go into lockdown again, so I don’t know how they are going to handle that. We have various means of communication like through WhatsApp and e-mail. I am touching base with everyone, letting them know what’s going on.”
The Bahamas is set to host the regional meet in 2021.
With 25 more positive cases recorded yesterday, the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases was at 219, with 115 active cases.
Jump Line – The Bahamas is set to host CARIFTA Triathlon and Aquathlon in 2021
The post BTA looks to stage three events by the end of the year appeared first on The Nassau Guardian.
source https://thenassauguardian.com/2020/07/23/bta-looks-to-stage-three-events-by-the-end-of-the-year/
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