South Africa, Britain biathles under spotlight
Athletes of all ages ready for fierce competition in the running and swimming events of the championship
Dubai: Biathles from South Africa and Great Britain will be under the spotlight when the 12th UIPM Biathle World Championship is held at Le Meridien Mina Seyahi Beach Resort and Marina on Saturday.
Great Britain is fielding 75 athletes, while South Africa has 73 taking part at this weekend's competition to be held in several age categories.
"In addition we have biathles flying in from Venezuela, Argentina and Spain along with at least five who have managed to qualify locally from the UAE," Warren van der Merwe from organisers Super Sports told Gulf News.
While the presence of Great Britain and South Africa is bound to have an effect due to their numbers of entrants, there are also biathles from other nations who are also capable of taking honours.
"It augurs well for a sport to have numbers, and as we come to this part of the world we see the need to make an impression by winning as many categories as we can," asserted Howard Jones, the Great Britain team manager.
"Our youngest competitor is 10 and the oldest is 71 years. There is a huge interest in biathle as it is such an easy sport due to the fact that it does not require any equipment," Jones added.
Challenging the British might will be South Africa. "A new country, a new challenge and we are here to win with some of our best athletes," South African team manager Anthony Bradford promised.
"This is a great opportunity for us to represent South Africa and leave a lasting memory on a fast-growing sport here. We have a lot of youngsters who are capable of doing well, but I expect the Masters athletes to come on the podium," Bradford said.
Co-hosted by the Dubai International Marine Club (DIMC), the 12th UIPM Biathle World Championships 2010 consists of a swim between two legs of running. While for the junior categories the run is normally more than 500 metres with a 50m swim in between, the seniors normally do a kilometre of running on either side of a 100m swim.
"We can expect some intense competition in all age categories," said Mihail Kouzev, the UIPM representative in the Middle East. Mercedes Benz Gargash Enterprises is the main sponsor. Co-sponsors include Sea Dubai, Desert Adventures, Zoggs, Maggie, Oasis Water, Pocari Sweat, Premiere Timing and Physique TV.
