EDMONTON PITCHING FOR THIRD TOP TRIATHLON EVENT
ITU World Triathlon Edmonton – EDMONTON, June 6: The first Edmonton triathlon World Championships in 2001 was dubbed by the International Triathlon Union (ITU) as “the best ever”. The second Championship, by then called the Grand Final, was described by Marisol Casada, the ITU President, as “setting a new level of event management”.
Now, Edmonton is set to raise the bar even higher. A team from ITU World Triathlon Edmonton and the City of Edmonton leaves Edmonton tomorrow to make a pitch to the ITU Executive Committee for Edmonton to host the Grand Final in 2019.
The presentation will be made in Leeds, England where the ITU Executive Committee will be meeting ahead of this weekend’s World Triathlon Series event in that city. A team from Lausanne, Switzerland will also be making a competitive pitch to host the 2019 event. It is not expected that the ITU will announce a decision on the host city until August.
Sheila O’Kelly, General Manager and President of World Triathlon Edmonton, who has been the leader of the team since the first ITU pitch in 1998, will be leading the presentation on Friday.
“Edmonton and triathlon are intertwined in the minds of many of the world’s triathlon community,” said O’Kelly. “At the same time, the City has developed a global reputation as being one of the world’s leading sporting host cities, and we will be making a joint presentation to the ITU Executive Committee.”
In addition to O’Kelly the triathlon team will include Sheila Findlay, competition manager; Brian Hetherington and Margaret Kool, bid co-chairs. The City will be represented by Deputy Mayor, Ben Henderson, Doug McLean, Director of Tourism and Events and Janelle Janis, marketing manager of Events Edmonton. Triathlon Canada will be represented by Christian Triquet, a member of the Board of Directors, and Tyler Misalchuk, presently Canada’s highest ranked triathlete.
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For further information, – contact Sheila O’Kelly – 780-995-1658
Christina Collins
Marketing and Communications
ITU World Triathlon Edmonton | Sept. 3-4, 2016
Tel: 587-759-0415 Cell: 780-203-8463