Olympic gold medallist Simon Whitfield, will serve as a captain for a new, team-based international triathlon competition named Collins Cup in 2018.

Launching in June 2018 in an undetermined location, the Collins Cup will consist of three teams — the United States, Europe and an international squad. Each team will have 12 athletes (six men, six women) with the first eight determined by international rankings and the other four selected by the team captains — similar to the process used in golf’s Ryder Cup.

“It’s a great step for triathlon. We need legacy events in our sport. We’re starting quite a wonderful and colourful history, but the Collins Cup pays tribute to a sport that grew out of an audacious challenge in Hawaii.” Whitfield said.

Collins Cup

Each athlete in the Colllins Cup will cover expected distances of three kilometres swimming, 120 kilometres biking and 25 kilometres running (the Ironman is 3.86 x 180.25 x 42.2, while the Olympic triathlon is 1.5 x 40 x 10). One athlete from each team will compete in each heat, meaning there will be 12 separate races, staggered 10 minutes apart.

The two-day event will also have microphones on the triathletes on the running and biking legs so that the TV audience will be able to hear their thoughts and conversations with the team captains. Organizers say the prize purse will be “one of the highest in the sport.”

Crowie Alexander to team up with Whitfield

Canadian Whitfield won top accolades in Triathlon with a gold at the 2000 Games in Sydney, where the sport made its Olympic debut. He also won a silver in 2008 making it the only two medals Canada has won in Triathlon at the Olympics.

Whitfield will leading the team of captains consisting of Lisa Bentley, Craig Alexander and Erin Baker. Canadian Bentley has won 11 international Ironman competitions despite being diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis in 1988.

Craig Alexander better known as ‘Crowie’ hails from Australia and is a decorated three-time Ironman world champion with a multitude of titles to his name. Baker hails from New Zealand and reaped two Ironman World Champion titles in her career.

Source: CBC.ca