Contact National Schools Triathlon Champs Attracts Huge Numbers To Pegasus
The Contact National Schools Triathlon and Open Water Swim Championships are hosted at Pegasus this Thursday and Friday and have attracted close to 800 entries from an amazing 121 schools from around New Zealand.
Tri NZ Youth and Coaching Manager Brett Reid is thrilled with the response from schools, parents, triathletes and swimmers.
“The Contact National Schools event continues to grow in popularity, especially with the younger age groups, and to get this many committed to Christchurch this year is fantastic, especially as we couldn’t hold the event there in 2011. It’s a busy time for schools and their support of this event and the sport is appreciated.”
Tri NZ also wishes to acknowledge the support of the Christchurch City Council, Pegasus, Canterbury Tri Club, Sport Canterbury, Swimming Canterbury, and the New Zealand Secondary School Sports Council, all of whom have helped with logistics and promoting the event to the local community.
Tri NZ is once again working closely with Swimming NZ in delivering the National Schools Open Water Championship. This is only the second year this event has been held and, with the growing popularity of open water events, looks set to stay on the schools calendar.
“We believe there is huge potential to grow this event and provide a unique competitive cross-sport experience to triathletes, swimmers, and all water sports players,” Reid says.
An exciting new development this year is the support of Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain. As official cereal and snacks supplier to the event, Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain will add valuable support to the championships, including rewarding each of the participants with a free t-shirt to mark the occasion.
Racing starts at 8am at Pegasus on Thursday 21st March and concludes with teams racing and prize giving in the afternoon. The National Open Water Swimming Championships start at 9.15 and will conclude with prize giving in the late morning.
For the full race schedule, click here