Over the weekend of September 28th, Jersey will be welcoming the return of Super League Triathlon for the second time. Sponsored by the Royal Bank of Canada, the newly titled RBC Super League Jersey event will see the biggest names in triathlon go head-to-head for victory in the season-long quest to be crowned Super League Triathlon Champion. As Co-Founder and Vice Chairman, retired World Champion triathlete, Chris McCormack, tells us how this year’s event will be bigger and better, with focus on spectators, mass participation and changing the dynamics of the sport.
What made you establish Super League Triathlon Jersey?
There has long been a misconception around triathlon – that it’s too hard, unattainable and only top athletes can do it. I believe that with the right exposure, it can become a mainstream sport. It’s healthy, everyone can do it, it just needed to be packaged differently. The strongest triathlon market at the moment is the UK and the Jersey event presented itself when a friend of mine who lives here suggested it. It was perfect. This is a globally televised series, so you want you focus on the vision that goes out and open the eyes of watchers to a destination they probably wouldn’t have heard of. Unique, warm and spectacularly beautiful – Jersey ticked all the boxes.
What’s different about Jersey to other locations?
It feels like a holiday destination, yet it’s so close to one of the biggest cities in the world being London – we saw that as a distinct advantage. We saw the uniqueness, history and beauty of the place as a global TV product and knew it was a destination we could tell a story around. Jersey also has such an engaged community, great young athletes, and some really driven people who want to do great things within sport, so it ticked every box. For me, out of all of our races we have coming up, it’s my favourite destination to come to because the people are so friendly – they really supported us when they didn’t really know what it was. I really have an affinity to the place.
What will be different this year?
Last year was about professional racing and showing the entertainment factor as a spectator. This year, it’s also about promoting the sport as something that everyone can get involved in. We’re going to have the RBC Race For Kids, the JT Fanzone, Age Group races, the Corporate Mix, as well as food stalls and entertainment. We wanted to create a festival around the event and we want Jersey to feel as if this is theirs.
How do people get involved?
Jersey has a very active community and we wanted to cater for everybody, so we’ve created a range of highly accessible races to cater for all abilities. Information and registration for the races can be found via our website.
Which athletes are already confirmed for Jersey?
Beyond the professional-level racing that will see the likes of the Brownlee brothers, Flora Duffy, Richard Murray and Vicky Holland take on a series of challenging formats, we have a relegation system in place so that we don’t just have the established elite. A lot of young and hungry athletes will also have their chance to compete, so although the event has big names, it will be fueled with a wave of new and hungry talent.
