Sports of all kinds are popular in Ukraine. I’ve blogged before about that fact that at my 1:1 lunches, some of Ukraine’s top decision-makers are ready to have a quick game of table-tennis (a trend which continues – Ed) and about Kyiv’s fishing frenzy. So it’s an honour to have to lunch at the residence the President of the Ukrainian Triathlon Federation, Andriy Bilda, and Secretary General Eduard Panarin. Both are former elite triathletes and are an outstanding advertisement for the sport.
Triathlon, which includes categories for para-athletes, is one of the fastest-growing and most inclusive Olympic sports. Competition is open to anyone from the age of eight and this year’s World Championships, held in Budapest, saw one competitor compete over the “Standard” distance of 1500m swim, 40k bike and 10k run who was over 80.
By good fortune, a member of the embassy staff, Paul Groves, is the Chair of the European Triathlon Union Technical Committee with a portfolio on rules and technical issues. The European Triathlon Union and the International Triathlon Union are keen to see development of referees and events in Ukraine and hope that Paul can help support development of both these aspects in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus, Georgia and Moldova. At our lunch we discuss a series of practical proposals for making this happen here in Ukraine.
So, armed with a race calendar for 2011 and a clear statement of support from the international federations I hope to see the enthusiasm of one member of staff in Kyiv developing into something really concrete for the triathletes in the region.
Swim, bike, run… it may sound exhausting but (warning: bad pun imminent) in fact it’s a sport anyone can “Tri”.
