With less than one year to go until the London 2012 Olympic Games, over the coming few months the capital will play host to a range of practice events.

On 6 and 7 August, Japanese triathletes will be competing in the International Triathlon Union (ITU) World Championship Series in Hyde Park, an event open to the public. The gruelling course begins with a 1500m swim in the Serpentine lake, followed by a 40km cycle leg and culminates in a 10km run, so the Japanese athletes are sure to need your support. If you missed out on tickets for 2012 this is your chance to see the world's best triathletes compete on the Olympic course. For free!!

In preparation for the World Championship Series and the London Olympics, the Japanese National Team have, in particular, been focusing on high-altitude training by practising in overseas bases such as Fontromieu in France, Ramsau in Austria and Zacatecas in Mexico, whilst back in Japan they have been training in the mountainous regions of Nagano.

The Japanese National Team coming to London is made up of 10 athletes (7 female, 3 male), including Juri Ide, who came 5th in the Beijing Olympics, and Ai Ueda, currently Japan's top ranked female and 11th in the world.

The event will be an extremely important selection race for the London Olympics. So why not show your support for the Japanese triathletes and get a sneak preview of the proposed Olympic course at the same time! For the full course map, visit
http://london.triathlon.org/event_information/event_information/course_map/

Schedule:
Women's race start: 8:36 on Saturday, 6 August
Men's race start: 13:06 on Sunday, 7 August (live coverage on BBC2)

http://london.triathlon.org/