NEWS

Târgu Mureș in Transylvania hosts the ETU Cross Duathlon Championships

By Paul Groves | 22 Apr, 2016


We have seen a lot of publicity from the hard-working Local Organising Committee over recent months and without a doubt the event T-shirt is an eye-catching one. But, it’s not just the branding that is impressing the athletes and their families. The LOC, a small but dedicated team from the city, have extended a real welcome to the athletes from 23 National Federations. With over 100 competitors arriving from outside Romania, the small town has come alive with athletes on their MTBs exploring the town and the peaceful countryside.

The event takes place high above the town and in woods that previously were the hunting grounds of bears. You can still hear the sounds of the wild because this is also where the local zoo is situated. The run course takes the athletes all around the outside of the zoo in a series of challenging laps. So far we have been blessed with the weather but there are reports of rain coming this way.

The transition area is on high ground but then the athletes take off on their bikes into paths under the trees and loop again around the plateau with some fast descents and tough climbs. For some of the expert cyclists this course is a dream but you only get to ride after the run, which has delighted some of the off road fell-running fans. Mix it all together and you have cross duathlon.

A course that is completely different to the exposed and rocky tracks of Castro Urdiales where athletes were rewarded with stunning views out over the sea. This is a leafy, green forest with muddy softness that has already cost one athlete a trip to the local bike shop to replace his wheels.

The athletes are being looked after well, with value for money hotels and the big Transylvanian welcome.

Who should we be looking out for?

Well, both defending champions in the Elite have returned. Margarita Fullana Riera ESP, Olympic bronze medallist in 2000 as a mountain-biker will seek to defend her title against Great Britain’s Louise Fox who won silver behind her in Spain last autumn. They will have to work hard against the Russian winter triathlon specialist, Yulia Surikova, who comes here as a World Champion (from Zeltweg) but this time will not have the luxury of a final ski segment.  Local hopes will rest upon Monica Konsz, who is also a Winter Triathlon specialist and current Romanian title holder for the winter event. Spain also brings Rocio Espada Vazquez who will be seeking to make that small jump onto the podium, having missed out last year on home soil.

For the Elite Women’s start list – click here.

The men will see Belgium’s Kris Coddens seek to defend his European title. He will be racing against Ciprian Balanescu ROU who won this race last year and who comes to this event after leading the bike for some time in Kalkar, alongside the new European Champion Jorik van Egdom. Knowing the course and racing on home soil will make him a favourite for the local crowds. From a solid history in the ITU Development Squad and from Serbia, comes Ognjen Stojanovic. We normally see him on the European and World Cup circuit and so it will be exciting to see how the shift to off-road goes. Norway’s Øivind Bjerkseth has not had the easiest of journeys to the race. He arrived in Bucharest but sadly his bike box stayed behind in Norway. With a day’s delay and a long drive to the venue, he arrived late and will not have adequate time to acclimatise.  His top ten place in Castro last year shows that he can handle a difficult course. In the winter months he kept his pace strong with 5th place in both the European and World Winter Triathlon Championships. Russia has sent their current World Silver medallist for Winter Triathlon to race. Evgeny Kirillov was also delayed by heavy traffic on his way to the venue and he too missed out on the familiarisation opportunities.

For the Elite Men’s start list – click here.

We have athletes racing in the U23, Junior and Para Categories as well as the Age Group athletes. The course has been marked out for a couple of weeks now and since arriving here there has been a steady line of athletes making their way around the course.

We are crossing our fingers and hoping that the technology holds up because we have a chance to follow the races live. If you have families and friends racing, then you can follow them here  and of course, don’t forget ETU is on Twitter  @ETUtriathlon and Instagram european.triathlon.union and we will do our best to keep you up to date.


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Related Event: 2016 Târgu Mures ETU Cross Duathlon European Championships
23 - Apr, 2016 • event pageall results
Results: Elite Men
1. Xavier Jové Riart AND 02:08:00
2. Joan Freixa Marcelo ESP 02:09:54
3. Ciprian Balanescu ROU 02:10:06
4. Oivind Bjerkseth NOR 02:11:53
5. Kris Coddens BEL 02:12:51
6. Evgeny Kirillov RUS 02:14:28
7. Bogdan Damian ROU 02:15:09
8. Bálint Mester HUN 02:15:43
9. Tomas Kubek SVK 02:17:53
10. Attila Daniel ROU 02:19:15
Results: Elite Women
1. Margarita Fullana Riera ESP 02:33:43
2. Kristina Lapinova SVK 02:35:06
3. Yulia Surikova RUS 02:40:55
4. Rocio Espada Vazquez ESP 02:42:43
5. Flo Dannah GBR 02:44:37
6. Louise Fox GBR 02:46:02
7. Monika Koncz ROU 02:54:44
8. Valentina Belović CRO 03:01:51
9. Adel Koter ROU 03:02:24
10. Ilinca Maria Tempeanu ROU 03:46:00
Results: U23 Men
1. Xavier Jové Riart AND 02:08:00
2. Attila Daniel ROU 02:19:15
3. Silvije Tomac CRO 02:24:23
4. Robin Schuermans BEL 02:30:26
5. Duran Akbaş TUR 02:36:35
6. Eugen Popović CRO 02:40:37
DNF. Daniel Madaras ROU DNF
DSQ. Levente Kanizsay ROU DSQ
Results: U23 Women
1. Anastasija Krūmiņa LAT 03:57:24
Results: Junior Men
1. Matus Kozlovsky SVK 01:22:34
2. Aleksandar Srandev BUL 01:24:15
3. Szabolcs Kovacs ROU 01:25:43
4. Veljko Maksimovic SRB 01:29:00
5. Tadeas Drahovsky SVK 01:29:27
6. Balazs Daroczi ROU 01:31:47
7. Dušan Kostović SRB 01:34:48
8. Emil Novosad CRO 01:35:25
9. Enrique Poveda Mateo ESP 01:35:26
10. Botond Zoldi ROU 01:38:34
Results: Junior Women
1. Sofiya Pryyma UKR 01:39:41
2. Lydia Drahovska SVK 01:48:16
3. Ema Filipović CRO 01:53:35
4. Julia Biro ROU 02:07:02
DNF. Andrea Ciolacu ROU DNF