The Samoa Triathlon Federation has selected 11 triathletes for the upcoming Napier Triathlon Festival in New Zealand.

The travelling team includes members from the national team and the development squad. Two juniors have also been included and it is a representation of commitment to building the new generation of Samoa triathletes. 

One of the triathletes, Maggie Palemia said she is excited to be part of the training camp in New Zealand and ready to participate in the Napier Triathlon Festival. She is a Year 12 student at Le Amosa school. 

"I'm very grateful for being given the chance to race in Napier. At first, I was feeling nervous about being selected because I had only started training around the middle of last year, but I kept going to training and noticed how I was getting faster than before," she said.

"This helps me feel more confident about the race. So now I'm excited to be joining the training camp in New Zealand with my teammates."  

They are led by Manamea Schwalger, with the assistance of travelling co-captain Pitapola Ioane. Coaches Donna Ioane and Laumata Line Mulitalo will accompany the team.  

The travelling squad are Manama Schwalger (c), Pitapola Ioane, Tyreece Collins, Fanaafi Ioane, Henry Levale Euta, Crisroch Levale Euta, Pueomanu Tevaga, Filipo Mulitalo, Maggie Palemia, Viliamu Mana, and Edna Euta Levale. 

Senior member, Darren Young is not able to participate in the week-long training camp due to work commitments. However, he will join the team in Napier for the races at the end of the week, making a total of 12 representing Samoa at the Napier Triathlon Festival. 

One of the athletes, Urlin Mulitalo has to sit this one out due to injury and she will be focusing on her recovery, and hopefully compete in the Pacific Mini Games in Palau. The team has been training twice a day with 5 am run and bike sessions, and swimming and track sessions in the afternoon.

They've had three races as part of their preparations, two triathlons and one aquathon. They have an aquathon this weekend which will also be their last before they depart. Racing is essential for the athletes to refine their transitions (when they go from the ocean swim to getting on the bike, and when they finish the bike and go to the run) and practise their pacing. It's a challenge for the newer triathletes to know how to best evenly balance their efforts across all three disciplines in a single race.

The team is set to leave Samoa on 17 February.