The 2014 USA Triathlon Youth & Junior National Championships will return to West Chester, Ohio’s Voice of America Park for the third consecutive year on 2-3 August, with nearly 700 young triathletes currently registered to compete.
National governing body USA Triathlon notes that the youth demographic (ages 7-17) is a continuously growing segment of USAT’s membership base, and has more than doubled since 2008.
“We are extremely excited to be heading back to West Chester, Ohio, which has proven to be an ideal venue for Youth & Junior National Championships for the past two years,” said Brian D’Amico, USA Triathlon National Events Senior Manager.
“The course is unique as it offers a premier layout for the athletes in all of the weekend’s events, and the support from the Butler County Visitors Bureau and the city continues to be top-notch as the event approaches.”
Athletes in the draft-legal divisions earned their spots to compete at qualifying events, including last year’s championship and Junior and Youth Elite Cups. The events feature a 750m swim, 20K bike and 5K run course for junior elites and a 375m swim, 10K bike and 2.5K run course for youth elites.
All individual events are scheduled to take place on Saturday 2 August, with the draft-legal junior elite (ages 16-19) championship races scheduled at 08:00 local time for the junior elite women and 09:40 for the junior elite men. Youth elite (ages 13-15) triathletes will also compete in the draft-legal format, with the youth elite girls starting at 11:05 and youth elite boys at 12:05.
The age-group Youth National Championships will begin at 14:30 on 2 August following the junior elite and youth elite races. The event features 10 competition divisions for athletes ages 7-15, including a youth paratriathlon open division. Younger athletes will complete a 100m swim, 5K bike and 1K run, while athletes 11-15 will race on a 200m swim, 10K bike, 2K run course. Paratriathletes will complete a 200m swim, 5K bike and 2K run.
The fifth annual draft-legal team relay will be held on Sunday 3 August at 08:00 for athletes ages 13-19. Fifty relay teams are expected to compete, and all athletes on the four-person teams will complete a 250m swim, a 5K bike and a 1.2K run, similar to the growing ITU Mixed Relay format.
National championship titles will also be awarded to the top youth club (non-drafting events) and development team (draft-legal).
www.usatriathlon.org/usatyjr14
