President of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) Marisol Casado has inaugurated an ITU Africa and Middle East Development Centre in Cairo, Egypt at Cairo Stadium. It was held in collaboration with the Continental Confederation and the African Triathlon Union (ATU). “The opening of the development centre is a very positive step in the right direction to further our goal of growing the sport of triathlon on the continent of Africa,” said Casado, who is also a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). “We have been making large strides in the region in the last several months, and this is one more step in the path to making triathlon an accessible sport to all.” The grand opening of the ITU centre took place in the presence of international, regional and national dignitaries. Casado was joined by the Egyptian Triathlon Federation President Ahmed Nasser, ITU Sport Director Gergely Markus, Mahmoud El-Helw as representative of the Minister of Youth and Sports, presidents of both the Arab and African Triathlon Federations, Secretary-General of the Union of the Arab National Olympic Committees Sheikh Saud bin Ali Abdul-Aziz and Head of the Cairo International Stadium Dr. Ashraf Sobhi. The event attracted a huge number of media representatives. The centre was constructed through financial support from the Egyptian government, the Egyptian Ministry of Sports, ITU and the Egyptian Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT). Costing more than one million EGP to build, the centre was donated the location by the Egyptian Sports Ministry, which also provided 20 per cent of the financial support. MCIT provided the electronic devices and the ITU shared in the rest of the expenses. Established on an area of 500 square metres, it is considered the largest triathlon development centre in the Middle East, Africa and Mediterranean countries. It is located on the 4th floor of the swimming pool complex at Cairo Stadium in Nasr City. Cairo Stadium is about 10 km west of Cairo International Airport and 10km (30 minutes) from downtown Cairo. The centre has an office and several lecture rooms that will offer educational and training opportunities for coaches, referees, officials and athletes. ATU President and ITU Executive Board member Ahmed Nasser said that the Ministry of Sports and MCIT have coordinated together to install a special server to stream live audio-video media over the internet. “The whole place is provided with cameras that have the ability to video conference or broadcast live on the internet all presentations, sporting events, lectures and meetings,” he said. Nasser's perseverance had apparently pushed the triathlon development centre project through. “I presented this project to former Sports Minister El-Amari Farouk last year, but unfortunately, nothing was accomplished. I re-presented my project to previous sports Minister Taher Abu Zeid, who was enthusiastic and agreed to allocate the place for the centre. Then, the current Youth and Sports Minister Khaled Abdel-Aziz continued the project,” Nasser told Al-Ahram Weekly. “This spirit didn't exist before. I am so proud of being Egyptian. It is the first time I feel this patriotic and supportive spirit. I'd like to thank them all for their huge efforts. This would not have been possible without the support and vision of ITU's President Marisol Casado and the Egyptian government,” he said. In coordination with the Head of Cairo International Stadium Dr. Ashraf Sobhi, a nearby hotel is expected to open soon for the athletes to stay and concentrate on training. The location houses a swimming pool complex, track for running and paved roads for cycling. There is also an alternative “safe road” leading to the venue that is secured by the Egyptian armed forces. On 6 March, a seminar was held for the newly joined African countries to the African Union — Cameroon, Senegal, Ghana, Cote D'Ivoire and Sudan. The seminar was attended by technical officials, administration personnel and coaches. ITU instructors lectured the participants. The ATU General Assembly met alongside the African Championships, with the attendance of 14 Arab countries, during which Bahrain was welcomed as a new member. “For the first time, Egypt has organised the Africa Cup. This championship is the first in the season. I used my good relations to add this championship to the international calendar and gave points in the ITU World Triathlon Series Rankings,” Nasser said. Egypt hosted the ATU Sprint Triathlon African Cup and the second edition of the Pan Arab Championships. The championship was held in Sharm El-Sheikh from 8 March. Participating countries were Kuwait, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Oman, Iraq, Jordan, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Kenya, South Africa, Madagascar, Rwanda, Italy, France, Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Denmark, England, Portugal, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Egypt. In the elite women's race, South African Gilian Sanders won a gold medal. Also, Russian Liubov took silver and Dutch Ditte Kristensen bronze. In the elite men's race, Polyansky came first in 00:54:30, while Russian Igor Polyanskiy took silver in 00:54:30 and Ukrainian Yegor Martynenko bronze in 00:54:30. In results of the 2nd pan Arab championship, Egyptian Triathlete Fatma Hagras won bronze in 1:14:00 in the women's race. In the duathlon competition, Egyptian Mohamed Zakaria won gold in 57.53 in the men's elite event. In the sprint national championship, Zakaria won a gold medal in the duathlon competition and Hagras took silver in the triathlon event. The Egyptian triathlon team travelled to South Africa to compete at the ATU Triathlon African YOG qualifier in Buffalo City from 23 March. It qualifies for the 2014 Youth Olympic Games (YQG) in China. Two Egyptian triathletes, Essam Khaled and Rehab Hamdi, have qualified for the 2014 YQG Nanjing, which will be held from 16-28 August. The triathlon involves three sports: swimming, cycling and running in immediate succession over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall course completion time, including timed “transitions” between the individual swim, bike, and run components. The word ‘triathlon' is a Greek origin for ‘trei' meaning three and ‘athlos,' which means contest. Triathlon races differ in distance. There are four main international races distances: The standard distance, known as ‘Olympic distance' is a 1.5 kilometres swim, 40 kilometres bike and 10 kilometres run. The long course is a 1.2 miles swim, 56 miles ride and 13.1 miles run, such as the Half Ironman triathlon. Ultra distance is a 2.4 miles swim, 112 miles ride, and a full marathon of 26.2 miles. Duathlon is much more specific with three separate race sections, but only two sports. Primarily, people first run a set distance, then bike a set distance and for the final event, run another set distance.
