Events co-or­di­na­tor for the Rain­bow War­riors Triathlon Club Ja­son Good­ing feels that op­por­tu­ni­ties for lo­cal triath­letes are on the rise thanks to a re­cent in­crease in in­ter­est from cor­po­rate spon­sors. Good­ing was speak­ing on the eve of the eighth an­nu­al Rain­bow Cup In­ter­na­tion­al Triathlon, which will take off at Tur­tle Beach, To­ba­go to­mor­row morn­ing. For the first time, Neal and Massy has come on board as the event's ma­jor spon­sor, in­vest­ing a sig­nif­i­cant sum along with Alamo Car Rental, Hi Lo, Nis­san, TDC, To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly and Bmo­bile. "We're get­ting good sup­port... (Neal and Massy) be­lieves in pro­fes­sion­al­ism and they want peo­ple to adopt healthy lifestyles. "This event is in line with what they stand for," said Good­ing. "With them on board and a few oth­ers, we're def­i­nite­ly in a good place."

De­spite the as­sis­tance of lo­cal com­pa­nies, he point­ed out that the sport was yet to gain much at­ten­tion from the Min­istry of Sport. "They've nev­er re­al­ly seemed too keen on help­ing us but I've nev­er been one to com­plain about what we don't have... The state of the sport is def­i­nite­ly im­prov­ing and I think in the year's to come, it's go­ing to be a force to be reck­oned with." A nine-time na­tion­al triathlon cham­pi­on (1995-2003), Good­ing moved in­to event plan­ning when he be­came frus­trat­ed with the lack of op­por­tu­ni­ties for lo­cal triath­letes to com­pete at home. He formed the RWTC with his fa­ther Ian in 2003, vow­ing to ex­pand the num­ber of races held in the coun­try each year. To­mor­row's Rain­bow Cup, one of four races on the club's sched­ule in 2012, is ex­pect­ed to at­tract be­tween 350 and 500 lo­cal and in­ter­na­tion­al en­trants, though Good­ing hopes to raise that num­ber clos­er to 1,000 in the near fu­ture. "With our club this year, we've re­al­ly been push­ing brand­ing. We de­cid­ed if we want to re­al­ly im­prove, we need to spend mon­ey. "At the end of the day, if you come out fit you still win."