UPDATE: Denver withdrew from the Yellow Jacket Relays on Saturday but will still race in Sunday's collegiate cup sprint.
SPEARFISH, S.D. – The Denver Pioneers women's triathlon team gets set for a pair of races this weekend in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Denver begins the two days' worth of competition on Saturday morning with the Yellow Jacket Relays before racing in the Black Hills Collegiate Cup Triathlon on Sunday afternoon.
Both races are being hosted by Black Hills State University, with Cal Poly Humboldt, Colorado Mesa, Montana State Billings, San Francisco and South Dakota also expected to participate.
Saturday's relays start at 10 a.m. MT and will be similar to Denver's Mile High Relays from the 2022 campaign. Each school will designate a three-person relay team, and each athlete will complete a 200-meter pool swim and a 1,000-meter run on the BHSU campus. Each school will be able to score an "A" and "B" relay. More than two relays can be entered for a school but must be declared as non-scoring prior to the race.
Sunday's race will be a full sprint triathlon at Rocky Point Recreation Area at Belle Fourche Reservoir, approximately 25 miles from the BHSU campus in Spearfish. The competition begins at 1 p.m. MT with a one-loop, 750-meter triangular swim off the west side of the recreation area. The triathletes will then transition into a three-lap, 20-kilometer bike course in and out of Rocky Point before finishing with a two-lap, out-and-back run totaling 5K on the northside of the peninsula.
The Pioneers will be bringing all nine student-athletes to South Dakota, but the exact lineup has yet to be determined.
Denver last raced two weeks ago on Sept. 17 where it placed fourth in the Battle in the Fort Triathlon in Texas. The Pios opened the season with a victory in the aquathlon eliminator against Colorado Mesa on Sept. 2 on the DU campus.
This weekend marks a key race in terms of points and qualifying position for the Pioneers as they get set for the Eastern Regional National Qualifier on Saturday, Oct. 14 at Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia.
