Triathlon: Kelly's priority - preserving elite status

Despite having some of the best training facilities in the world, the Hong Kong Triathlon Association is in danger of losing its elite funding status at the Sports Institute (HKSI) unless the national squad can win the required nine performance points over the next two years.

New national coach Patrick Kelly believes Hong Kong has enough talent to score those all-important points, but said there were a few things lacking that could mean the difference between success and failure.

"Two aspects that are missing are road riding for bike training and the opportunity for soft surface running - big parks with grass areas," said Kelly, who took over his new role almost two months ago.

"I'd love to see our athletes given the opportunity to run around the grass track at Penfold Park, and another location I have considered is the golf club at Fanling.

"When the sun sets and the golfers go home it would be great if our athletes could train on grass. We used to do this in Canada - we would go out at 5pm or 6pm and would all wear headlamps and then run around the perimeter of the golf course twice a week.

"I think this would help our athletes because the impact of grass is much less on the joints than the hard surfaces they train on now."