Lion Man Triathlon runs on Saturday

It’s called the Lion Man Triathlon and it kicks off at nine Saturday morning at the Belize City port. If you want to win–or even to finish–you better be in shape. Co-ordinator for the second annual event, Melvin Torres, explains how the race, which involves swimming, cycling and running, will be conducted.

Melvin Torres, Organiser, Lion Man Triathlon

“They will be swimming the quarter mile from here. They will be riding onto the Western Highway through the Faber Road route, and then we will finish at the Marion Jones Complex outside, where they are expected to run three and a quarter mile round the circular. They will go the way cyclists normally take to finish the cross country and just at the finishing line they will sprint to that.

This year in terms of participants, we have opened the race. Last year, the race was just for novices or what people have come to know as people who participate from office. This year we have opened the race. We have three different categories this year. We have the junior event and that will be from age sixteen to twenty three. Then from twenty-three to age forty is known as the elite triathlon and from age forty upwards will be known as the masters. In that way we open the event to any person who fits those categories. We want to expect that it will be bigger than last year, however, this year we were not as successful as last year to get some of the prizes that we needed to get. Hopefully next year, we will be trying much earlier and try to organise the committee into an official organisation so people can come to recognise it.”

The race, which will finish at the Marion Jones Sporting Complex, is expected to last two hours. Viewers should note that lion women are also invited to compete.