Barbados’s reigning National Triathlon Champion and Barbados CARIFTA team head coach Oein Josiah has proudly represented Barbados at the AJ Bell London Triathlon; the world’s largest age group event on the international triathlon calendar.
Coming in fortieth out of the total 1 883 competitors from countries such as Great Britain, Poland, Scotland, Ireland, and Australia, Josiah also impressively placed tenth out of the 305 male triathletes in his 25-29 years category.
Competing in the Olympic distance of 1.5km swim, 40km bike ride, and 10km run, Josiah said the race was great preparation for the 28th Annual Barbados National Triathlon on October 14, where he will defend his title against stiff international competition.
“Racing in London with such competitive triathletes is the best way for me to up the ante in preparation for October. Our national event is getting bigger and bigger each year, so I really need to be at the top of my game if I want to take home the title again and ultimately make the step up into the elite triathlon arena,” he said.
Barbados Federation of Island Triathletes (BFIT) President Darren Treasure said Josiah’s performance in London is a huge credit to the standard of triathlon and triathletes in Barbados.
“We are so proud to have had Barbados represented at such a prestigious triathlon event. It shows that even for such a small island, our local amateur triathletes can still compete on an international stage,” Treasure said.
“We hope it is also a draw card for triathletes overseas to consider making the trip to Barbados to compete in some of our home-grown triathlon events, especially our annual National Triathlon which is held every October”.
Treasure also thanked Tourism Development Corporation (TDC), Barbados Olympic Association (BOA), National Sports Council (NSC), Arts and Sport Promotion Fund, Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI), and the Bank of Montreal Reinsurance (BMO) for their continued support of triathlon in Barbados.
It continues to be a very busy year for triathlon in Barbados with the upcoming CARIFTA Triathlon, Aquathlon and Mixed Relay Championships to be held in Tobago from September 29 to 30, the international 28th Annual Barbados National Triathlon on October 14, as well as the BOA’s BIIG Games in November. For the remainder of the year, Barbadian elite triathlete Matthew Wright will also continue his qualifying journey to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. (PR)
