Mr. Francis Kojo Kwarteng Arthur, Chief Executive Officer of the Ghana Triathlon Federation (GTF) says, they were unable to host the 2022 African Triathlon Cup due to the bad state of the sea water.
The 2022 ATC which was supposed to be held as a Triathlon event at the Labadi Beach in Accra was changed to Duathlon as a result of the water conditions.
Speaking to the media, he said, “we are in the raining season, so we have to let the standard board test the sea water and per their results it is not conducive to use the water because there are so many micro-organisms in it, which is not very healthy.
“So, they advised that we take out the swimming, that is why it became a duathlon instead of triathlon,” he explained.
He said though that was not the first time Ghana hosted a triathlon event, the last time the country hosted was 2019 and it was a successful one.
“GTF once again did it and as you are well aware this is the second time; we are hosting the Triathlons African Cup.
“In 2019, we had a successful one and this year we have raised the bar because we had over 18 foreign athletes joining us, we are really sorry for the inconveniences.
“This is an international qualifications event backed by the world and African Triathlon Association which is geared towards the qualifications to the Olympic Games in France so the world recognises it,” he noted.
Commenting on the performance of the Ghanaian athletes, he said the players are picking up.
“For team Ghana you really know that triathlon is fairly new for us, so our athletes are doing well, they are catching up, we are very grateful to them and again there is more training going on in the regions and the institutions so we are looking at training more children for swimming, running and riding.
“So yes, with the performance of the Ghanaian athletes today, especially those who have to attend the Birmingham Games in the coming weeks I think it is a successful one.”
Triathlon is a multisport race consisting of swimming, cycling and running over various distances, while duathlon consists of running a set distance, then biking a set distance and finally running another set distance.
