Legends Line Up For Paratriathlon

Posted in Other News

AUSTRALIAN PARATRIATHLON CHAMPIONSHIPS
Where: Sydney International Regatta Centre, Penrith
When: Friday, January 11, 2013
Time: 7am

Triathlon, January 11, 2013: The names Louise Sauvage, Michael Milton, John Maclean and Bill Chaffey are synonymous with some of the most amazing feats achieved by Australian sportsmen and women – inspirations to so many who have followed their stories over two decades of Paralympic and Olympic triumphs.

And they will all now come together on one sporting stage to celebrate the first ever Australian Paratriathlon Championships at Penrith’s Sydney International Regatta Centre (Race start 7am).

Paralympian and Olympian Sauvage, now 39, is regarded as Australia’s greatest wheelchair athlete – winning 11 gold and four silver medals at four Paralympic and two Olympic Games between 1992 and 2004.

Veteran Penrith-based Paralympian, three-time Hawaiian Ironman triathlete, swimmer and Paralympic rower Maclean at 49 will join Sauvage and Chaffey, 37 in the Tri 1 category.

Maclean has been an inspiration to Paralympians world wide with his extraordinary career including three Hawaiian Ironman Triathlons – the last one in 1997 where he beat a third of the field and became the first ever wheelchair category winner.

Friday’s course will see championship competitors swim 750m; Handcycle (for Paraplegic, Quadriplegic, Polio, Double Leg Amputee on the bike course) for 20km and wheelchair for 5km.

The man to beat in the Tri 1 category will be then Gold Coast’s three-time ITU Paratriathlon World Champion Chaffey, who will be out to add the National crown to his impressive list of achievements in the Tri 1 class (750m, 20km, 5km).

Chaffey has been the dominant force in the Tri 1 category – winning his three world titles on the Gold Coast in 2009, Beijing in 2011 and Auckland in 2012 – and he is determined to add his name to the Paralympian honour role when the sport makes its debut in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

Six-time Paralympian and six-time gold medallist, 39-year-old Milton, will line up for the same distances in the Tri 2 category (For severe leg impairment including above knee amputees. Athlete must ride bicycle and run with above knee prosthesis (or similar prosthesis) or run using crutches).

Milton has contested the last two ITU World Paratriathlon Championships in Beijing in 2011 and Auckland in 2012 – his best result coming in Beijing, where he finished fourth.

The six classifications for Paratriathlon cater for athletes with a vision impairment or physical impairment (such as spinal or nerve injury, limb loss or limb deficiency, cerebral palsy or other similar disability).

The onset of Paratriathlon making its debut at the next Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro has given the sport a huge boost and organisers are delighted with the response.

“The National Championships for Paratriathlon is another exciting addition to our calendar and we are pleased to see so many great names, as well as the current champions, like triple ITU World Champion Bill Chaffey in the field,” said Triathlon CEO Anne Gripper.

“To witness first hand the Paratriathlon events at the last two ITU World Championships in Beijing and Auckland has been amazing and Australia has so many great athletes who are working hard at a sport that certainly has its challenges.

“Friday will be a ground breaking day for the sport of Triathlon and a very exciting day all round.”

Sauvage, who has taken up a coaching role for wheelchair athletes at the NSWIS since retiring after the 2004 Athens Paralympics, will line up in one of her few triathlons.

“I have done a few individual legs and a couple of smaller triathlons but when I saw the first National Championship I thought why not?” said Sauvage, who has undergone some rigorous training under Olympic water polo gold medallist Bec Rippon.

“Bec and I have been great mates over a long time and she has been coaching me both in the pool and in the gym but don’t get any thoughts of a comeback for Rio, I just want to complete a Paratriathlon.

“But it’s more than fun, I’ve always been a competitive person and I always will be.

“I have been ringing Bill (Chaffey) constantly to get as many tips as I can. He’s probably sick of the sound of my voice.”

Issued on behalf of Triathlon Australia.