After two days of racing last weekend, Katie Zaferes and Kristian Blummenfelt stood atop the podium at Super League Jersey, triumphant over a field of 50 world-class athletes including Olympic medallists and world champions. The female and male pro triathletes both earned the maximum 50 points to top the overall Super League Triathlon leaderboard in Jersey and take away the title and top prize of US$18,000.
In the lead-up to the weekend’s racing, Super League Triathlon athletes also spent time with the Jersey Triathlon Club and its junior athletes to conduct drills, teach skills, answer questions and inspire all to continue chasing their triathlon dreams.
“I love the way that Super League Triathlon immerses the professionals into the local community and introduced us to the young athletes,” said Zaferes. “I think it was awesome that there was so much involvement with the Jersey triathlon community.”
The athletes were reportedly full of praise for the organization of the weekend’s races. “I think being such a new event it has been organized exceptionally well,” commented Swiss pro triathlete Nicola Spirig. “You could see that there was a very professional team doing the job; but at the same time you could feel that the volunteers and the Jersey Triathlon Club were completely behind the race and doing everything to make it a success.”
Katie Zaferes added, “The Jersey course was technically demanding which made for an interesting race, and even more exciting when the rainy weather added another element.”
US triathlete Summer Cook continued, “The people of Jersey were so welcoming and came out in masses to the races, even when it rained on Sunday! It was so much fun to race in front of such a large crowd!”
Super League Triathlon co-founders added that they were pleased at how the second event had turned out. Chris McCormack said, “I thought the event was marvellous: the course, the crowd, the venue, and the community support.”
Leonid Boguslavsky commented, “It has over-achieved our expectations, and we are very excited to show what we have in store for the rest of the season.”
Michael d’Hulst continued, “Super League Jersey is a great foundation to keep building on for the future events in Jersey and make Jersey part of our yearly calendar.”
Future plans for Super League
As Super League Jersey has wrapped up, the questions now turn to future plans for Super League Triathlon.
Boguslavsky revealed, “We are considering several opportunities and we will make decisions shortly. Since it’s the first season for us it’s an ad hoc approach. We are already putting agreements in place that make sure that all venues for season one are long-term commitments and will be part of future seasons. We are planning to have between five and seven Super League Triathlon events per season.”
Super League Triathlon is also working with its media partner Lagardère Sports to grow its distribution and audiences globally. “We already have partnerships with ESPN, Sky and Eurosport,” said Chris McCormack.
Michael d’Hulst added, “We grew our presence in China, and added three channels to the live coverage. And very important is the reach we will achieve with our post-produced documentary, which is very accessible to a wider audience.”
The athletes will be back as well. “I, for sure, would love to take part in more Super League Triathlon events,” said Zaferes.
“I want to support Super League Triathlon as they continue to set the pace on how to showcase our sport,” added Cook.
Spirig shares the sentiment. She said, “We have a similar race in Switzerland and I always found the different formats and the short distances very attractive for both spectators and athletes. I think it’s great to now have a professional, international series in such a format and will definitely try to do more of the events.”
Pro triathlete Kristian Blummenfelt of Norway added, “I can’t wait to find out where the next location will be. I know that the Super League Triathlon crew are looking for another spectacular venue for their next event, and it will be good for both spectators, TV and us athletes.”
Competing in further events in the series will also reward the athletes financially as well as in other ways. d’Hulst revealed, “Jersey was the first round of the official series and Super League Triathlon’s focus will be on a bonus for the series. The individual events are aligned with the WTS [ITU World Triathlon Series] and the bonus structure will be Super League Triathlon’s unique selling point. Additionally, we are working on further rewards outside of race wins to promote competitiveness and audience interaction.
“Our commitment to investing in professional triathletes is strong and a key pillar of our brand. This starts with taking care of our athletes at venues, providing different financial rewards targeting not only the winner of events, but obviously focused on the commitment to our series!”
