The Cyprus Triathlon season gets underway in six weeks and the first race is the Ayia Napa Triathlon on Sunday April 3, organised by Nireas Triathlon and powered by Hellenic Bank.

Triathlon, one of the fastest growing modern sports, has competitors taking on the challenge of three disciplines – swim, cycle, run without a break.

The Ayia Napa Triathlon offers two distances, Sprint Triathlon (750m swim – 20km cycle – 5km run), and Triathlon (1500m swim – 40km cycle – 10km run).

With six weeks to go until race day it’s not too late to think about making this event your first triathlon. Beginners can find plenty of guidelines and training programmes online to get them on to the start line, but by far the best way to get motivated and keep training is to join a club.

“Training in a group and receiving expert guidance from a coach is the best way to get into the sport,” said event director of Nireas Triathlon, Panagiotis Ntais. “Nireas members come from all three individual disciplines as well as complete beginners wishing to take on the three sport challenge. Our club welcomes anyone who wants to get started in triathlon and offers members regular structured training sessions in all three disciplines.”

Commenting on the Ayia Napa Triathlon he added “Ayia Napa Triathlon is now established as an annual international triathlon and with the support of our sponsors we are working to make Cyprus a priority destination for triathletes from northern and eastern Europe.”

Registrations for this year’s race up to now include participants from the United Kingdom, Lithuania, Germany and the Russian Federation.

Team participation has been added to the event line up as a way to encourage athletes from other disciplines to get a taste of triathlon. Teams of two or three can participate making the event ideal for first time racers team-up and experience a multi-sport event.

The event is in its third year and has seen a steady growth in participants from 100 in 2014 to more than 200 last year. The Ayia Napa triathlon is held at the Nissi Beach Resort and offers an excellent experience for racers and spectators.

To register for the race or to find out about joining the club go to the Nireas Triathlon website www.nireas.org.or contact Mercia Ntais on 99 744 473, or Claire Philpott on 99 539 430