Oceania Triathlon

ITU Sport Development has two coaches in Larache, Morocco supporting a group of athletes from Arabic and African nations competing in an ITU event for the first time ever in Morocco. Franz Studer(South Africa) and Zeljko Bijuk (Croatia) have travelled to Larache,Morocco to not only support the visiting sport Development athletes but to scout the local triathlon athlete and coaching talent in Morocco so that ITU Sport Development can assist with a long term athlete and coaching development plan for the future. Morocco is in the process of formalising its membership with ITU and the event in Larache has generated much interest and support locally.

Larache (also El Araich; العرائش in Arabic) is one of the oldest Moroccan cities and is an important harbour town in the region Tanger-Tétouan in northern Morocco. It was founded in the 7th century when a group of Muslim soldiers from Arabia extended their camp at Lixus onto the south bank of the Loukkos River.
A large contingent of Moroccan athletes will line up for the ITU Triathlon African Cup ‘sprint event’ on Sunday including well known Moroccan triathlete, Mehdi Essadiq, who will line up with a very competitive field of athletes from Africa, Asia, Europe and Oceania. Other African athletes on the men’s start line include Adel Masmoudi (Tunisia), Omar Nour (Egypt) and Valerie De Falbaire (MRI) as well as 10 competitors from Morocco. Erin Densham (Australia) is the number one ranked athlete on the start line for the women’s race