Canadian pressure is on in Sarasota

The two-day 2015 Sarasota CAMTRI Sprint Triathlon American Cup and Caribbean Championships gets underway this weekend in Sarasota including the sprint distance event for the elites, the CAMTRI North American Junior Championships and CAMTRI Mixed Relay American and Caribbean Championships, as well as an Age Group non-draft race on Sunday.

Four-time Olympian Hunter Kemper headlines the men’s race but he will be challenged by 15 Canadian men including Alexander Hinton, Russell Pennock and John Rassmussen. Last year Canada’s Andrew Yorke won the race though he is not on the start list for 2015.

The women’s race will see six Canadian women including Alexander Coates, Dominika Jamnicky and Leanna Lee. Last year American Sarah Haskins won the event but was followed closely by Canada’s Amelie Kretz who took second.

The CAMTRI North American Junior Championships race will include a huge Canadian contingent of 26 athletes in each of men’s and women’s races. Canada’s Emy Legault and Kirsten Vergara will be tough to beat and Oliver Blecher will lead the Canadian junior men.

In 2014 team Canada won the mixed relay event and could take the top spot again this year. The event is comprised of four athletes (two women, two men) who each complete a 350m swim, 6.4k bike and 1.5k run before tagging the next teammate.

For more info visit: Triathlon.org and SarasotaTri.com