The Portocolom Triathlon kicks off this Sunday in Mallorca

Today has been officially presented at the Club Nàutic de Portocolom (Felanitx) a new edition of the traditional Portocolom Triathlon, which is celebrated this Sunday 14 of April from the 8h45, and that supposes the unofficial start of the triathletic season in Europe.

To celebrate 22 years of history of this test will be cited more than 40 elite triathletes at the start, among which stand out Michael Van Cleven, who wants to continue making history and achieve his fifth consecutive victory, Markus Hormann, winner of 2014, and Manuel Kung, recently arrived in Mallorca and he hopes to surprise. Jenny Schulz, Celine Schärer, Caroline Livesey o Emma Bilham They are some of the favorite women to win.

At the official presentation of the event, the athletes Michael Van Cleven (current winner) and Celine Schärer appeared before the media, as well as institutional representatives Jaume Montserrat, mayor of Felanitx, Jaume Ordinas, manager of the Velòdrom Illes Balears Consortium, Pere Cler, Alderman of Sports, Llorenç Tortella, Mayor pedáneo, Climent Garau, president of Club Náutic de Portocolom, and Jaume Vicens, director of the race, together with Tom Sutton, CEO of Spirit Triathlon Series.

The Trolley of Portocolom officially joins Spirit Triathlon Series, and it will be the first of the four tests that will make up this Novel European Long Distance Circuit.

This circuit focuses on very special triathlons, hard for the participants and of great beauty and attractiveness, promoting the participation of elite triathletes along with non-professionals, which increases the prizes for the winners, adds added value to those who debuted or start in this sport through seminars and training platforms, and turn the circuit into a league in that the athletes add points through a ranking system and also compete for prizes at the end of the four tests.

1.000 will be the athletes who during this weekend will start the season in Mallorca to participate in the TriKids Duathlon for minors on Saturday, and at distances 111 (1 km of swimming, 100 km of cycling and 10 km of running on foot) or 55.5 (500 m of swimming, 50 km of cycling and 5 km of running foot).

In addition to the expected Belgian returns Michael Van Cleven, who will seek his fifth victory in Portocolom, or the German Markus Hormann, winner in 2014, highlight the names of Manuel Kung, Timothy Van Houtem, Jarmo Rissanen, Domenico Passuello, Andrej Vistica or Milosz Sowinski, among many others, in addition to the Balearic Islands Carlos López and Joan Nadal, or Iñaqui Pena-Manso, runner-up of Spain of medium distance.

In the female category there will also be an interesting fight for the victory in the distance 111 (1 km of swimming, 100 km of cycling and 10 km of running) between a usual podium, the German Jenny Schulz, second and third in 2017 and 2018, respectively, the British based in Felanitx Caroline Livesey, the two-time winner of the Swiss Ironman Celine Schärer, the Polish Joanna Soltysiak, the Swiss Emma Bilham, Irene Coletto, the sisters Nina and Michelle Derron and even 10 more women, in what is the best departure list in its history.

The two tests on 111 and 55.5 km will take the triathletes the next 14 in April to the same routes as in the past editions. Those registered to the 111 will have to give two laps to the cycling circuit while those of the 55.5 will only give one, climbing only once the 494 meters of Sant Salvador. Swimming will be again in the crystal clear waters of Club Nautic de Portocolom, while the final walking race of 5 or 10 km will have the goal in the urban heart of this Mediterranean town.

In addition to the two tests on Saturday from the 10h30 there will also be a duathlon for minors (TriKids), the largest participation of the Balearic Islands.

Further information: www.triathlonportocolom.net