Round five of the ITU Triathlon World Cup Series heads to Holten, Holland this weekend, to kick off the first of four big weekends of ITU racing action. Following this weekend's World Cup, the planet's top triathletes will head to Hamburg, Germany for the fourth round of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series on 17-18 July, and then to London the following weekend for the fifth round of the Series. The month of exciting racing action finishes up in Immenstadt, Germany on 31 July and 1 August for the ITU Long Distance Triathlon World Championships.
Everything kicks off this weekend in Holland with the Holten World Cup, on a course that hosted the ETU European Championship last season. A total of 68 athletes are on the start list in the women's race, which will go off at 11:30am local time on Saturday 10 July. There is sure to be plenty of local support for Lisa Mensink, who is the top Dutchwoman competing. Mensink finished tenth at the European Championships in Holten last year, and has been steady through the start of 2010, finishing 14th at the Hy-Vee Elite Cup.
Looking to keep Mensink off the podium in her home country will be Ecuador's Elizabeth Bravo, who is competing in her ninth event of the season, and Aussie Erin Densham, who has won Continental Cups in Asia, Africa and Europe already this year. Other top names in the women's contest include South African Marie Rabie, Denmark's Helle Frederiksen and Ukraine's Yuliya Sapunova.
One week after the Holten World Cup the world's best triathletes will take to the streets of Hamburg for the fourth round of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Series. The event will take place alongside the Hamburg City Man Triathlon, which is the world's largest age-group triathlon with over 12,000 athletes slated to participate.
Live text and timing updates from Holten will be available at triathlon.org/live. Free live video of the Dextro Energy Triathlon ITU World Championship Hamburg will be available at triathlon.org/tv.
About the city: Holten is a small town in the Netherlands with a population of only 9,000. It's home to the country's second largest WWII cemetery and is also the hometown of Olympic 1500m speed skating gold medallist Mark Tuitert.
SCHEDULE: Elite women start - Saturday, July 10 - 11:30am (UTC/GMT + 1 hour)
