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Chargement…
Chargement…
Europe's major cities hold their triathlons right downtown: you swim in the harbour or the river, ride closed avenues, run along the waterfront. Two hours of effort, two days of discovery.
A countryside race means a car, isolated accommodation and a whole day just getting there. A downtown triathlon is reached by train, started on foot from your hotel, and leaves Saturday and Sunday afternoon free.
It is also the format that travels best with company. Someone who does not race will always find something to do in Barcelona, Vienna or Amsterdam while you tick off the laps, which is rarely true beside a remote lake.
Sprint or Olympic distance: two to three hours of effort, and a recovery that does not ruin the rest of the trip. A long distance would cost you the whole weekend, then the following week.
No car, no shuttle at dawn. You sleep in town, reach the start on foot or by metro, and finish a few streets from the café where everyone meets afterwards.
The deciding test: would you have spent the weekend there anyway, without a race? If yes, the event becomes an excuse rather than a chore.
The races in the TriMates catalogue, outside France. Each page gives the location, the organiser's website and the editions we know of.
For a weekend, sprint and Olympic distance are the right formats. A sprint, 750 m swim, 20 km bike and 5 km run, is done in about an hour and a quarter. The Olympic doubles those distances and takes two to two and a half hours.
Long races, half or IRONMAN, are worth the trip but not the same trip: they demand specific training, arriving two days early and several days of recovery. They exist in these cities too, and the races page lets you filter for them.
Filter races by country, spot the ones that tempt you, and see who else will be there.