European race schedule links?

Triathlon Forum
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I am planning to do my first half ironman in Europe next season but I can’t find a lot of races too choose from. I am sure there are heaps of middle distance races in central europe only I can’t find a good race-link website to locate them. I’d like to do a fairly fast course (no Alpe d’Hues on the bike please) with easy access (i.e. close to intl. airport and hotels) and many participants.

Can anyone recommend a good race?

Does anyone now of a good European triathlon race-link website?

Thanks!

Sindre

Norway

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Hi Sindre I don’t wanna be discouraging but as far as I know Euro race schedules are not done so in advance like in the US. For instance chances are that next year’s Italian schedule won’t be out until February. Usually there are 2 or 3 half IM races in Italy, but all of them are pretty hilly and in the middle of nowhere. You can try the following links: www.fitri.it (italian federation, crappy site); http://www.trisuisse.ch/wd2/index.html (with the excellent half IM Triathlon di Locarno) and http://www.fftri.com (the french federation) which has a number of very good races. Like I said it’s kinda hard to plan so in advance unless your goal is an ironman.
Filippo

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Sindre - you may try activeeurope.com They have a searchable database of events. You can search for all triathlons listed in europe in a certain month, or narrow it down by country. It’s obviously not a complete list, but there are quite a few listings…

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… It’s obviously not a complete list, but there are quite a few listings…

Which contains nearly nothing.

www.dtu.org and www.tri2b.com are good sites for races in Germany. Suffer from the same problem as most other sites, that the race dates are fixed very late in the year.

Simon

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Felix writes:

Here is a list of some Half IM / MD Tri in Europe:

Algäu Triathlon MD, http://www.altenried.de

Immenstadt is 2/92/21, I did it as my first half Ironman 4 weeks ago, but -definitely- not for you if you want a flat bike course
http://www.poole.ch/30_sport/10_racereviews/30_immenstadt-2003/gallery_zoom/Immenstadt2003%20001.jpg

2004 Immenstadt might host the European ITU long distance championships, I would assume tihs would be additional to the half.

Bonn, which is not quite half Ironman distance, is quite a lot of fun, but also has a moderately hard bike course: 4/60/15 (the 4k are downstream in the Rhine, start is from a car ferry http://www.co-in.de/~christophm/bonn2003/wettkampf/triathlon029.jpg). Link: http://www.tripsvbonn.de

Simon

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I have to agree with you Felix. There was even an Italian athlete, Dina Braguti who got rid of her number and chip, and crossed the finish line with them in her hands as a form of protest against blatant drafting.
In the meantime I did Nice and man it was hard! Hardest race I’ve ever done in my life, IM included (yes tougher than Lanzarote!)

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Thanks everyone for all your tips. I guess I’ll skip Tri Locarno then. Pity that they can’t get rid of the draft packs. Is this course very draft-friendly (whatever that means) or is this race attracting more cheaters than other races? My radar is currently on the Half Ironman UK in Sherborne. This race seem to be spot on for me: Late summer, 1500 starters, accessible from London with a fairly fast (=easy) course. The only problem is that they may make it a full Ironman in 2004. I guess I’m one of the few (??) who hope they’ll keep it half-distance one more year.
Sindre