CANADA, Vancouver — The 2007 BG Triathlon World Cup series calendar was released by the International Triathlon Union (ITU) today. In total 15 world cups will be organised for the 2007 season with many of the staple events returning and a number of new events emerging. The 2007 world cup series will visit 14 countries on five continents, spanning more then eight months.

"We are very excited to be able to have events on all five continents, a first for ITU, " commented ITU World Cup Director, Sheila O'Kelly. "Thanks to the international growth of triathlon we are able to bring these events to such a diverse range of regions around the world."

The 2007 season will begin on March 25th in Australia with the Mooloolaba BG Triathlon World Cup and finish on December 7th with the season's finale in Doha, Qatar, host of the 2006 Asian Games.

2006 saw a record number of entries for the world cup series with start lists consistently full as the start of the Beijing Olympic qualification period began. The new season will no doubt bring even more athletes to the forefront as the competition for valuable Olympic qualification points intensifies.

"It was incredible to see so many athletes trying to get to the world cup start line this year," stated O'Kelly, who organised the 2001 Triathlon World Championships in Edmonton, Canada. "We consistently had full start lists with waiting lists almost 20 athletes long for some."

Prize money for all 2007 world cups will be a minimum of US$100,000 thanks in part to the ITU's new global partner BG Group. BG Group will contribute US$20 million over nine years to the sport of triathlon as part of its sponsorship. The bonus prize pool for the 2007 year-end rankings will be US$250,000 for the top men and women, divided equally.

In 2007 a minimum of 16 ITU Triathlon Television shows will be produced and distributed by broadcasters worldwide to a potential household viewing reach in excess of 1 billion people. Live online coverage of all world cup and world championship events will again be available on the ITU website www.triathlon.org.

2007 BG Triathlon World Cup Series

Mar 25 Mooloolaba, AUSRALIA
Apr 15 Ishigaki, JAPAN
May 6 Lisbon, PORTUGAL
May 13 Richards Bay, SOUTH AFRICA
Jun 3 Madrid, SPAIN
Jun 10 Vancouver, CANADA
Jun 17 Des Moines, USA
Jun 24 Edmonton, CANADA
Jul 22 Kitzbuhel, AUSTRIA
Jul 29 Salford, GREAT BRITAIN
Aug 12 Tiszaujvaros, HUNGARY
Sep 16 Beijing, CHINA
Oct 21 Belo Horizonte, BRAZIL
Nov 4 Cancun, MEXICO
Dec 7 Doha, QATAR