Olympic gold and silver medalist, Simon Whitfield, to appear at Challenge St Andrews

Kingsbrae Garden Challenge St Andrews Triathlon festival announced today that Canada’s Olympic gold and silver medalist, Simon Whitfield, will appear at the inaugural event in St Andrews, New Brunswick.

Whitfield, who won gold in Sydney in 2000 and silver in Beijing, will participate in a variety of activities throughout race weekend including a Junior Athlete Workshop and the Challenge St Andrews Kids races.

Challenge St Andrews race organizers stated today, “ We are absolutely thrilled to have Simon with us for our inaugural Challenge event. Every triathlete in Canada remembers his gold medal sprint finish in the 2000 Olympics and he has been an inspiration for us throughout his years in the sport. This is an amazing opportunity for all us of in the Challenge Family to have such a class act with us for our first Challenge St Andrews.”

Challenge St Andrews is the second Canadian venue in the Challenge Family global series of long distance triathlons. Challenge Family events take place in 22 iconic destinations around the world. With races throughout Europe, Asia, Australia and New Zealand, the launch of the Challenge Family series in North America has been eagerly anticipated in the sport of triathlon with new Challenge races Challenge Atlantic City and Challenge Penticton as well as Challenge St Andrews.

Challenge St Andrews will take place on July 6th, 2014 with athletes competing in a 1.9km swim/90km bike/21km run. The St Andrews event has a significant professional prize purse and expects to see some of the top athletes in the sport competing next July. The Challenge St. Andrews weekend will also see a sprint triathlon, relay events, Aquabike races, kids races, “Beat the Tide” island run on Minister’s Island, race expo, live music and entertainment for everyone. Currently, Challenge St Andrews has athletes registered from all over Canada, the United States and Europe who will converge on St Andrews next July for the many events taking place around the historic, and newly renovated, Algonquin Resort.

The organizers of Challenge St Andrews are very pleased with the response so far and the support they are receiving from around the World. “ We have quickly become the largest triathlon in Atlantic Canada and a world class destination race. We want to ensure that we do everything right for athletes, their families, volunteers and spectators. Having Simon Whitfield with us is certainly the best way we could ever have imagined starting off our event in 2014.”

For further information about Challenge St Andrews, please visit www.challenge-standrews.com and on Facebook. Information about the global Challenge Family Triathlon Series can be found at www.challenge-family.com