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Tribune News Network
DOHA
The Qatar Cycling and Triathlon Federation (QCTF) and the Asian Triathlon Confederation (ASTC) will jointly work on a development programme to build the sport in the country.
A delegation of the QCTF had recently gone to the Gold Coast to attend the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championships and Congress. The three-member delegation consisted of QCTF Vice-President Professor Nasser al Mohannadi, who is also leading the sport development program, QCTF Triathlon Coordinator and Age-group team manager Bernard McCullagh and triathlete Essa al Maadeed.
During the Congress, it was decided that the ASTC will host several youth athlete, coach and technical officer development programmes in Qatar next year. The meet and Congress was extremely successful from Qatar's angle.
Prof Mohannadi , QCTF Vice-President, commented:"The Congress was a great moment for our country, with the Asian and Global bodies seeing the real progress being made by the federation for the long-term development and success of the triathlon in Qatar. This was carried out through discussions during Asian and International meetings and with their presidents followed with carrying flag in the opening ceremony and competing in the world championships event."
In addition to the Congress success, a first-ever Qatari also participated in the ITU Age Group World Championships.
Age-group competitions occur in five-year age bands from 20-24 all the way into the 70's and 80's and allow committed and passionate athletes to compete on the international stage against their peers. Unlike Elite athletes, athletes are self-funded and have to balance their intensive training programmes alongside demanding career commitments.
Qatari athletes competed in both the Sprint Distance Triathlon (750m swim/20km Bike/5km Run) and Olympic Distance Triathlon (1500m swim/40km Bike/10km Run) events.
The top performance was achieved by Essa al Maadeed who completed the Olympic Distance event in total time of 2h, 23m, 53s to finish 70th in the World in his age-group (25-29).
The next opportunities for Qatar to participate in Age-Group world championship will be on April 29-May 4 at the ITU Multisport World Championships in Portugal, where athletes can represent their nation in the Long-Distance Triathlon (3km swim/120km bike/5km swim), Duathlon (run-bike-run), Aquabike (swim-bike) and Aquathlon (swim-run).
Those interested in learning about how they can represent their respective nations and compete in their age group in 2019, they may contact the QCTF at [email protected] for more details.
The federation has been quite active for the past year after laying a good foundation for the sport in the country. The QCTF has being working diligently for the following goals:

* Gain full ITU member status
* Launch an elite athlete programme with Ebrahim al Romaihi participating in the Asian Games, Qatar's first participation in triathlon at the Asiad.
* Start to develop junior athletes with Abdulaziz al Ali taking part in a Youth Olympic Games qualifier
* Host the first ever national championships and national points series
* Host an ITU Technical Official (Community Course)
* Launch talent identification and with plans to soon pilot school initiatives
*And have confirmed an ITU coaching course in November 2018
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25/09/2018
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