As athletes prepare to battle the hills and heat of Huatulco come Sunday at the third World Cup race of the year, four athletes – Mexico’s Crisanto Grajales and Claudia Rivas, and Lisa Perterer (AUT) and Andrew Yorke (CAN) shared their thoughts with the local media. 

Andrew Yorke (CAN)
On racing in Huatulco
“This is my second year racing this event, and it’s a great course that the city of Huatulco has put together for us, along with ITU. I think the biggest factor this weekend is going to be the heat and the hills. You go out too hard and maybe haven’t done your heat preparation, it’s going to be a struggle.”

On the competition he is facing
“I think there’s going to be a pretty hard pace set on the bike by some of the athletes like Leonardo Chacon and Ivan Rana. There’s a lot of young athletes trying to make a name for themselves. This World Cup series is kind of their new stomping ground, so there’s probably going to be some new faces out there from Canada and the U.S. and I think it will be a competitive race all around even though we don’t have as many London or WTS finalists as we normally see. It’s going to be challenging but I’m looking forward to it; this is my kind of course.”

Claudia Rivas (MEX)
On the racing conditions
“I like this event a lot because of the heat and the challenging course. I like when the bike is really hard like many races here in Mexico and Huatulco. In previous years, the heat has been really strong and I’ve done well. In the beginning, the heat affects you. But in triathlon, there are always different conditions.”

Crisanto Grajales (MEX)
On the challenging course
“I really like this race. It’s very hard, but beautiful as well. It’s very demanding with the heat and climbs. I suppose all of us athletes here like the challenge. So it should be a really good race.”

Lisa Peterer (AUT)
On her race experience in Mexico
“I’m here for a third time, because I like Mexico. The people are friendly, I like the heat and the hilly course, the up and downs. I hope I’m in a good form and we will see the outcome on Sunday. There are three others who were competing at the Olympic Games, so we will see.”