Courtesy: USAT

USA Triathlon has announced the schedule for the 2003 USA Triathlon Junior and U-23 National Triathlon Series.

The series consists of six draft-legal races designed to teach young triathletes the international style of racing.

The series races will be:

May 4: USA Triathlon National Training Center Triathlon - Clermont, Fla.
June 22: Tri Hagg Lake - Forest Grove, Ore.
July 13: Cornman Triathlon - Marshalltown, Iowa
Aug. 10: The West Kennebunk Fire Department Triathlon - Kennebunk, Maine (Junior and u-23 national championship and world championship qualifier)
Aug. 17: DeGray Lake Triathlon Festival - Arkadelphia, Ark. (13-15 age group national championship)
Sept. 13: Stony Creek Triathlon - Shelby Township, Mich. (Second junior and u-23 world championship qualifier)

Each event will have draft-legal races for three different age categories, based on an athlete's age on Dec. 31, 2003: 13-15, 16-19 and under-23. The 16-19 and under-23 age groups do sprint- distance races, except at the world championship qualifiers, where under-23 athletes will do Olympic distance races.

The 13-15 age group will do shorter races, usually consisting of a 375- or 400-meter swim, a 10k bike and a 2.5k run.

For more information on the race series, go to www.usatriathlon.org and click on "age group" then "youth/junior/u-23."