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Hyde Park to host triathlon World Cup
Matthew Beard, Evening Standard27.09.07
Hyde Park is set to host another major sports event following the success of this year's Tour de France.
The Royal park is expected to stage an international triathlon - one of the fastest-growing sports in Britain.
The UK stage of the triathlon's 14-event World Cup Series will take place in September next year. It is an example of the "2012 dividend" - international sports events attracted to the capital in the run-up to the London Olympics.
The swim will be in the Serpentine with running and cycling on roads in and around the park. The event will cost about £1million but organisers are confident of the financial spin-offs, having seen the Tour de France boost the London economy by an estimated £115million. It is a huge fillip for the park, which is the venue for the triathlon at the Olympics.
The British Triathlon Federation has secured the backing of UK Sport and London Mayor Ken Livingstone, who championed the Tour de France prologue coming to the capital as part of his drive to get more Londoners on their bikes. The International Triathlon Union has been campaigning for the World Cup event to come to London because of the added exposure the sport will gain. In recent years the event has been staged at Salford Quays in Manchester but their only available slot next summer clashes with the Beijing Olympics.
Athletes will already be in pre-Olympic training camps and the event's broadcaster, the BBC, will have outside broadcast units committed elsewhere.
The one-day competition will effectively be the first "test" event of the new venues for London 2012.
