Af­ter an ab­sence of five years, nine-time na­tion­al triathlon cham­pi­on Ja­son Good­ing will re­turn to ac­tion in the Suri­name Triathlon on Sun­day. The Rain­bow War­riors Triathlon Club (RWTC) mem­ber will be tak­ing on the sprint dis­tance triathlon, which in­cludes a 750m swim, a 20km bike ride and a 5km run; all of which equate to half the Olympic dis­tances. Al­so par­tic­i­pat­ing in the event is up­com­ing triath­lete and fel­low club mem­ber James Amow. The two-man team will leave for Suri­name to­day with Pres­i­dent of RWTC, Ian Good­ing, as man­ag­er. The trio is ex­pect­ed to re­turn on Mon­day. Amow, a St Mary's Col­lege stu­dent, was fourth in the na­tion­al sprint last year and will be look­ing to im­prove his form through par­tic­i­pa­tion in this event. Good­ing se­cured the sec­ond spot af­ter a few years of not com­pet­ing. He is de­ter­mined to give the Suri­name triathlon his best shot how­ev­er, and in­tends to put his best foot for­ward as he al­so has his eyes on the up­com­ing Grena­da triathlon set for May 5. The Grena­da triathlon will al­so serve as the Caribbean Triathlon Uni­non (CTU) Cham­pi­onships.

"I am giv­ing the com­pe­ti­tion one last shot, and I ex­pect to com­pete in the Olympic dis­tance event, which is twice as long as the Sprint, at the Grena­da triathlon," said Good­ing. Rain­bow War­riors is plan­ning to take at least 18 triath­letes, both se­niors and ju­niors to the Grena­da race. Good­ing, who will serve as race di­rec­tor for the Grena­di­an meet, said the event will be a warm-up for the Rain­bow Cup In­ter­na­tion­al Triathlon which takes place on Tur­tle Beach in To­ba­go on Sat­ur­day May 26. Good­ing al­so re­vealed that the stag­ing of the in­au­gur­al Na­tion­al Sec­ondary Schools Triathlon Cham­pi­onships will take place at the Rain­bow Cup. Triath­letes from St Joseph's Con­vent, St An­tho­ny's Col­lege, Queen's Roy­al Col­lege (QRC), St Mary's Col­lege, and Mara­bel­la North Sec­ondary will be do­ing bat­tle for top ho­n­ours. How­ev­er, the in­vi­ta­tion is open to all ath­letes from any sec­ondary school will­ing to jump in the ac­tion.

Per­sons who may need help with prepa­ra­tion or train­ing, can con­tact Good­ing at ja­son@rain­bowtri.com or 784-4128 or 633-9004, or vis­it the club's Web site at www.rain­bowtri.com