THE second sprint triathlon will take place in Paphos on Sunday morning with 200 athletes taking part, including a local municipality team, who will tackle a 750 meter swim, a 24 km flat bike race and a 5 km run.

The sprint triathlon is being organised by the municipalities of Paphos and Yeroskipou and Bikin Cyprus with the support of the Cyprus Tourism Organisation and the Paphos regional board of tourism.

Christos Palios, president of Yeroskipou municipality’s sports committee, said that he hopes the event will help to further enhance local winter sports tourism.

“This year we also have participants from the UK, Russia and other European countries. Sports tourism is very important for Yeroskipou and the municipality has invested in major sports infrastructure projects in order to become a sports centre for Cyprus,” he said.

Paphos municipality will enter a three-man relay team, who say they are doing it for fun and the spirit of the event and not in a competitive manner. The team is made up of Paphos councilors Polis Polydorou, Nicos Similidies and Andreas Chrysanthou.

Polydourou will take part in the flat bike ride, Similidies in the swimming event and Chrysanthou in the run.

Polydorou, who describes himself as an ‘indoor cyclist’ said he is looking forward to swapping a static bike for more scenic outdoors. He told the Cyprus Mail:
“Although the three of us regard ourselves as quite fit, we haven’t done any training for the event. I’m not even sure how long I will be expected to cycle for. I will turn up, get on my bike and pedal.”

The three say they hoped that by entering their team, they would inspire other municipalities to take part.

On a more serious note, the councilor said that the event was a positive move for Paphos which is experiencing hard times due to the fallout from the economic crisis.

“Paphos is suffering and anything which helps to move our city forward is a positive step.”

The triathlon will start at 10am from Yeroskipou’s municipal beach and finish at the castle in the harbour of Kato Paphos​