EAST of Madagascar, there’s an island which Lonely Planet describes as a mini-Hawaii.
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It’s called Reunion Island and is home to world-famous surfing spots, which has Warrnambool’s Kris McCartney thinking he should probably get a board to test them out.
While surfing will be something to fill in time during his nine-day stay, the reason he is venturing to Reunion Island is to contest his preferred craft — a triathlon.
“The race director sent me an email a couple of months ago and said they wanted some Australians to come,” he said.
“I thought it was a pretty good deal.
“It’s not a major race but last year they had a few guys who are really strong, so I thought it would be good to go.
“It should be interesting.”
McCartney will leave for Reunion Island next week before returning to Australia briefly to collect girlfriend Ella Gill.
The couple will then fly to France, where they will stay for about six months as McCartney has been contracted to professional team Saint Raphael.
“I’ll race basically every weekend, give or take,” he said.
The team is made up of about a dozen members who come from countries such as Russia, Switzerland and England.
They will compete in five grands prix, which are based on a points system.
“If you finish first, you get one point and if you finish 50th, you get 50,” McCartney said.
“There’s 16 teams and the team with the least amount of points wins.
“(Triathlons are) an individual sport but you do work together a little bit and try to help out your teammates.
“Not a lot of teams go through tactics, except the really big teams. We’re not a massive team.”
McCartney believed Saint Raphael racked up a top-10 finish in the grand prix series last year, when he was also a member of the team.
“I think I’m a little bit fitter than I was last year, which is good,” he said.
“I’ve been doing a fair bit of training.
“Of course you always do more when you’re overseas because everyone’s so focused on it.”
The triathlete has used several south-west events as preparation for his overseas stint, claiming both the Noorat to Terang Fun Run and Warrnambool Foreshore Triathlon on the same weekend last month.
kbutler@standard.fairfax.com.au
