Wildflower.

Well Nice is not really the iconic Nice anymore, so yes Roth, Kona, Wildflower, St. Anthonys, ST. Croix, Maui Xterra, and a few more, just have to think of what races are still around..

Maybe New Zealand, Canada has changed too much to be iconic anymore. Around here Malibu Tri and Escape from Alcrataz, although not sure which one is the iconic one anymore..

I think it is down to Kona and Roth...everything else is a revolving door of course and format changes with varying degrees of pro field. The sport has almost no legacy or continuity outside these 2 events. Generally WTC has manged to kill the historic events either inside it's fold or putting g competing races on top....it mainly succeeded putting St.George on top of Wildflower but thankfully failed with putting g Frankfurt on top of Roth. In fairness WTC has also built some really good new races but they are not monuments in my mind YET. I might be inclined to add Lanzarote. It has been around since 1992 in his format. IM Austria in Klagenfurt started circa 1994. IM Frankfurt is around 16 years old now and IMFrance Nice has been around forever either as an IM or the Nice Long Course so if I were to include Lanza, i would include Nice

Dev, so if money/travel were no cost and fitness and recovery not an issue. What would be the ultimate season for you?

Triathlon doesn't have any 'monuments' besides Kona or Roth and even including those two we are being very generous. The pro fields are so small and non-competitive in triathlon that most races are an insult to the cycling monuments when comparing to that level of competition. You can say all you want about Wildflower but look at the list of pros and there's no one that's a world class contender. Cycling monuments are about heroic races among the big name pros... only Kona and Roth have a small fraction of that.

Ultimate Season on the Petr VanBrousek program:

IM New Zealand, IM South Africa, Wildflower/St Croix, IM Lanzarote, 70.3 Tremblant, Roth, IM Nice, ITU World's Olympic and sprint distance, 70.3 Muskoka, 70.3 World's, Kona, Ultraman Hawaii, 70.3 Laguna Phuket Thailand

Tremblant and Muskoka 70.3 added because they are close to home. As I have a disc problem, right now doing a single local sprint event would be awesome

While there is some truth to your point, triathlon does not have the depth that the cycling pro field has, nor the sport of triathlon vs. cycling; but every big race including the monuments are most often won by one of a handful of pre-race favorites just like triathlon.

I would not argue it is a monument, but Zurich has been around for quite some time, 25 years?

back in the 90s, the list would include:
-powerman
-Mrs T's
-Alcatraz
-st Croix
-roth
-kona
-phuket
-nice
-noosa

I think macca made a list of races he wanted to win, years ago, that would be a good glimpse of classic monuments.

---

____________________________________
https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

Then I have to plug my home town.

Almere is the oldest triathlon race of Europe (since 1982). After Kona the oldest in the world. In my not so objective opinion clearly monument-worthy.

Wales.

Super hilly and hard. And chances are it's going to p1ss with rain and be stormy. (I loved it really)

Wales is a great shout.

It's a young sport, races still establishing themselves and you can usually see pretty early which races are just special, which are so so and some which are just wrong from the off. It's those special races that would become monuments given time.

Wales has only been going since 2011, but had something magical about it from the very first edition and its legend has built ever since. Like many of the cycling monuments it throws different things at the competitors depending on weather.

Norseman would be in there as well.

Almere is a 'classic', second oldest (Europe's oldest) continues long distance triathlon. Just because of that it deserves a spot.

Ironman KONA, of course
Roth
Embrunman
Lanzarote

The Embrunman would qualify as a monument, event though it's not really known outside of France. It was created in 1984 as a sprint race, but it switched to a long distance format in 1986. It's been considered one of the toughest triathlons ever since.

A little surprised nobody came up with the Norseman yet? I am definitely more impressed if somebody tells me he finished the norseman than some of the other events mentioned here. But of course that's for agegroupers only, nothing of the big pro battles we see in Kona and Roth.

Was just about to...and then I saw this post. I would definitely agree. Norseman is as close to a monument outside of Kona and Roth as there is in triathlon today, even if it's barely older than a decade.

I would imagine every top long distance pro would be interested to test their mettle against it...if it wouldn't mess up kona training, etc.

Was lucky to race it in 2014. It exceeds any hype given.

No doubt Kona and Roth (heading back for my 8th time). I'm not quite so harsh on IM, although I understand your point. Many of the old IMs, eg CdA, IMC Penticton, were certainly monuments to me that are gone. IMLP and a couple of others mentioned I think count. However, new ones are popping up. I LOVE IMChoo and think it is becoming a monument. And, I would love to go to some of the new ones popping up in Asia. We really are still a rather young sport so this will continue to evolve.

---

David
* Ironman for Life! (Blog) * IM Everyday Hero Video * Daggett Shuler Law *
Disclaimer: I have personal and professional relationships with many athletes, vendors, and organizations in the triathlon world.

There is a problem with definition here. Nothing actually defines what is a 'classic' or what is a 'monument'.

There are over 40 races that are considered as part of the 'classics' season of racing, but what defines them as classics actually comes down to personal interpretation rather than any set or criteria. The term monuments simply describes the best of the 5 classics. As there is no definition of what makes a classic, there is little to denote what makes a monument either. Its just a common consensus that these 5 races are the hardest of the 40 odd races known as classics.

A monument in triathlon would be whatever is one of the hardest races in your opinion, as there is no firm definition. Some of the races quoted above I have never even heard of - so whilst some people might think of them as monuments I have no idea. They may be one of the hardest, they may not?

There are a couple of races I would call iconic - Kona, Roth, Lanza, Norseman would be on my iconic list. Its a bit different from thinking of them as a monument though? I also think the most iconic races come with a kind of atmosphere you just don't get at other races. Roth and Lanza have literally 1000's of people lining the streets, on Lanza the entire Island gets involved. Kona is like a year end party for those who qualified and a champion of champions race for the pro's. Its a celebration as well as a race. Norseman has an atmosphere I struggle to describe, its self supported and barren. Its not like any other atmosphere I have come across in a race and that is what makes it iconic.

I think a monument has to be a combination of iconic (or classic?), hard and atmospheric. It has to have a certain something that distinguishes itself from other races that are just as hard or have been around a long time. A couple of races appear in lists again and again - Kona and Roth - others are more locally considered to be iconic and mean nothing to others. What is a monument to you is just a race to me.

---

He who understands the WHY, will understand the HOW.

I think Alpe d'Huez tri has more draw outside of France than Embruman.

XTERRA Grabouw is the largest off-road tri in the world and a very big deal in South Africa.

ITU Hamburg has the best crowd and setting of any event I've been to, even though swimming in that river is pretty gross.

Bilbao Tri in Basque country is pretty unique. Tough course, incredible spectator support, but also a very gross river swim.

Yes but it's definitely not the monument that Embrun is, in terms of history, atmosphere or even difficultly (although difficulty is debatable). Embrun has been going on for 35 years. It has a low-key, grass roots feel to it, that is at the opposite of IM-branded events or even the Alpe d'Huez. A "monument" is just not any race that attracts people from far away.

Haven't raced Embruman but I have to believe it's the harder race. Aside from the swim being really cold and the final climb up the race's namesake, Alpe d'Huez isn't an absurdly hard race. I will say that all the French triathletes I met over there talked at length about what a great event Embruman is. Bucket-list worthy for sure.

That is not a good definition of the cycling monuments.

---

________
It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

That's being too generous with "monument", I think.

I'd say Roth and Kona and I'm not sure what is different about Nice, but the cycling "monuments" have had course changes over the years, so if it is simply a slightly different course, then I'd still put it up there. If it is reduced competition at the pointy end, then its out.

---

Swimming Workout of the Day:

Favourite Swim Sets:

2020 National Masters Champion - M50-54 - 50m Butterfly