Europe Triathlon

The dates are already published but where are the ETU Championships this year?

First up and a very welcome return to the calendar is the traditional Run, MTB and Ski challenge that ETU fully supports.

The 2016 Otepää ETU Winter Triathlon European Championships. Located not far from Tartu in Southern Estonia at the “Winter Capital” this town is easy to get to from either Tartu or from Tallinn or Riga. The date is set for 23rd January and this is an ideal time for you to then consider racing the Winter Triathlon Cup in Reinosa on 30th January, with its rather unique town run, road bike climb and then ski. Good preparation for the ITU World Championships in Austria on the weekend of 13th 14th February. Who, amongst the European winter triathlon experts can “do the double” and take European and World titles? Make your way to Otepää and try this fantastic sport.

Next up is the early season 2016 Kalkar ETU Duathlon European Championships. This race will be for the Elite, Juniors, Para and Age Group athletes. Located close to the Dutch border and so very easy to access from airports in South Eastern Netherlands or North Western Germany and with perfect road connections, this event hosted the German Championships in 2015 and so the course is not a new one but a tried and tested one. Click here for an entire album of photos from the event (but please note, the course has not yet been fully published and there may be changes).  If you are feeling really daring, you could try to go for the Du-Double and head towards central Europe for the next race.

Next up comes the 2016 Târgu Mureș ETU Cross Duathlon European Championships. This event has been running for some time and in 2015 hosted the Balkan Championships. Set high on a hill above the town, deep in Transylvania, the Organisers are also offering you the chance to visit Vlad’s Castle for the full Dracula experience. The course has a bit of bite too, with the run, bike, run taking place entirely off road and on forest paths and compacted trails. For a full selection of photos, click here. Getting there is pretty easy with flights into the airport that lies just outside the town. There are hotels a-plenty and if you want to see a bit more of the event, click on the event website, which will be updated in due course.

The season is still young and so we stay with Duathlon for just a bit more. We head to wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen for the 2016 Copenhagen ETU Powerman Long Distance Duathlon European Championships. This race will be for the Elite, Para and Age Group Categories. The distance will be the Powerman Classic // 10km RUN | 60km BIKE | 10km RUN and the venue looks stunning. Get involved now on the Facebook page. Getting there is easy enough and we all know how superbly friendly the Danes are. Long Distance racing has a long history in Denmark but this is the first time we have been so lucky as to have a championship duathlon in the capital. Ready for this ?

As the season warms up so our thoughts go to the full swim / bike / run and this year it is the Portuguese Triathlon Federation that has stepped up to the mark. 2016 Lisbon ETU Triathlon European Championships has its website already working and the countdown is on. For a full list of official hotels, please click this link and to reserve accommodation, click here. Medals will be decided here for Elite and Juniors, Para, Age Group Sprint and Standard and Elite and Junior Mixed Relay. A full weekend of competition in a beautiful location. If you race just one championship this year as a triathlete, this is the big one.

The U23 athletes get their chance to defend their title and to chase for glory at the 2016 Burgas ETU Triathlon U23 European Championships. Many years ago, when Helen Jenkins was Helen Tucker, when Vanessa Fernandez, Nicola Spirig, Ruedi Wild, Valentin Meshcheryakov and Ivan Vasiliev were still U23, Bulgaria hosted the Championships in Sofia. That was in 2005. Burgas is way East on the Black Sea coast and following close co-operation with the Technical Delegate from the 2015 European Cup event, changes have been made to bring this event up to Championship standards.  What a joy it is to see these athletes race. No longer juniors but not yet fully Elite they challenge the Elite and are making their way forwards as the new generation.

In 2015, the French Federation hosted a great event in Châteauroux. As a test event it passed with flying colours and so, in 2016 we will see the ETU Aquathlon European Championships and on the same weekend, the 2016 Châteauroux ETU Sprint Triathlon European Championships (for Elite). Easy access using either road, rail or air, the venue is in Central France and a popular location for triathlon each year.

If you really want to learn Hungarian, there is one word you need to master. It is the word that is synonymous with triathlon. In Hungary, Tiszaújváros means triathlon and for so many years now this small town has been the centre of a festival of sports that is a firm favourite amongst athletes. 2016 will see the Tiszaújváros ETU Triathlon Youth European Championships Festival form part of the programme of events in the first week of July.

Following Weymouth this year, the long-distance specialists move to Poland. Once again working with Challenge, ETU will celebrate long distance racing in this ancient city where this year a tremendous test event saw thousands of athletes enjoy the hospitality of the region while fighting their own demons over the long swim, bike, run of their very own “Longest Day”. The Enea Poznan Challenge 2015 was a record-breaking event in Poland with more than 3.5 thousand athletes and almost 20 thousand spectators. Next year for the Polish triathlon here in Poznań it will be even more spectacular. Alongside the European Long Distance Championships will be a popular half-distance and 56.5 km, a relay, a triathlon for kids. Over the weekend of triathlon the organisers are expecting 6000 participants. Not only the scale, but also the route of entire triathlon will be different. As this year, so in 2016 competition will start on Poznan Malta Lake. The bike course will end up in the heart of Poznan’s old town – T2 will be located in the courtyard of the City of Poznan Town Hall. The run course will take the athletes back towards Lake Malta with a spectacular finish at the Liberty Square. Here there is going to be finisher zone located together with a stage and the organisers promise that “sport excitement will reach its zenith”. This will be a unique promotional event for the whole city. Thanks to very interesting running route – triathletes will discover Poznan with its streets, interesting history and landmarks. ETU Challenge Poznań 2016 will be 2-day event with long distance on first day (Saturday) and other distances (112,95; relays, etc.) the next day. Their website is up and running and once again we invite all athletes who want to “go long” to enter via their federation. Athletes wishing to switch from the Open Wave to the ETU wave will only be permitted to do with the full written support of their federation. So don’t leave it until the last minute but rather enter in good time. Also don’t forget, look smart and wear your uniform. Easy to get to by car, train or air, this is a great location for you to race or to watch.

The final Championship Event we have confirmed will be the ETU Challenge Middle Distance Triathlon. The venue is Walchsee, Austria. The bike course, as you can expect, is going to be a real test for athletes.

 
The event website shows stunning views and with 1,800 athletes expected, this will be a great race to step up from standard distance or to ease down from the full. How many will try the ETU Challenge Double? Located at Kaiserwinkl, this is where the Tyrol starts or ends, depending on which direction you are coming from. If you fly to Munich then you have only 101km to drive. Innsbruck is 107km away and Salzburg 74km. This is a truly central location.

We are still awaiting final confirmation for both the ETU Club Triathlon Championships and the ETU Cross Triathlon European Championships.