Clermont and Sarasota in Florida, alongside Dallas, Texas, are hosting international ITU Pan American events in 2014. The three US cities will welcome elite triathletes from the Americas and Caribbean nations to compete for draft-legal ITU Pan American Cup and Championship titles as well as a share of US$40,000 in prize money.
The season begins in March with back-to-back race weekends in Florida. The Clermont Sprint Pan American Cup is slated for 1 March 2014, followed by a trio of championship events in Sarasota on 8-9 March 2014. Elite and under-23 athletes will compete in the Sarasota PATCO Sprint Triathlon Pan American Championships, while juniors will race in the North American Junior Championships.
The Sarasota Mixed Relay Pan American Championships will also be contested, featuring four-person teams in which each team member will complete a short swim, bike, run circuit before tagging the next athlete.
Dallas will host the 2014 PATCO Triathlon Pan American Championships on 31 May to 1 June. Draft-legal championship races will be held on a 1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run Olympic-distance course for elite and under-23 athletes, and juniors will compete on a 750m swim, 20K bike, 5K run sprint course.
In addition, the event will feature non-drafting PATCO Championship races for paratriathletes, contested at the sprint distance, and age-group athletes on an Olympic-distance course, competing in standard five-year age-group divisions. The site will also act as the host of the 2014 PATCO Congress.
The elite race in Dallas is expected to be one of the first qualification events for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games, allowing athletes to earn valuable points on behalf of their national federation that eventually help determine the number of Olympic spots allotted — with a maximum of three men’s and three women’s spots in Rio for each nation.
In addition to the elite international races, all three events will host age-group races, giving amateurs the opportunity to compete in the same venues as the top ITU pros. The Clermont event will host a draft-legal Under-25 Elite Development Race (ages 16-25) as well as an age-group sprint race. Sarasota will also stage an age-group race, and both Florida events will feature a Youth F1 race for athletes ages 12-16.
The Pan American Triathlon Confederation (PATCO) is comprised of 38 National Federations, including the United States, Canada, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Chile, Venezuela, Panama, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Puerto Rico, Cuba and more.
The PATCO Triathlon Championships were first held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, in 1997. PATCO returns to the United States in 2014 for the first time since 2009 (when they were hosted in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma).
2014 Clermont ITU Sprint Triathlon Pan American Cup
1-2 March, Clermont, Florida
www.draftlegalchallenge.com
Prize purse: US$10,000 (US$5,000 women, US$5,000 men)
2014 Sarasota PATCO Sprint Triathlon and Mixed Relay Pan American Championships
2014 Sarasota PATCO North American Junior Championships
8-9 March 2014, Sarasota, Florida
www.sarasotatri.com
Prize purse: US$10,000 (US$5,000 women, US$5,000 men)
2014 Dallas PATCO Triathlon Pan American Championships
(Elite, U23, Junior, Paratriathlon, Age-Group)
1 June 2014, Dallas, Texas
www.playtri.com/festival
Prize purse: US$20,000 (US$10,000 women, US$10,000 men)
patco.triathlon.org
www.usatriathlon.org
