Ok gang-
What triathlons out there are the most beastly? The monster courses? Anywhere in the world, any distance (OK, IM or less).
We’ll start with a few that most people know about:
IM Lanzarote
Silverman
Auburn/World’s Toughest 1/2
Just recently heard about a race that climbs the Alpe d’Huez (found the site and it’s in French…)
What others do you know about?
DeSoto TripeT
Survival of the Shawgunks (sp?)
.
Norseman Extreme.
Superfrog. The marquee portion of the event is the half marathon in the sand run, which is tough enough. Throw in the potential (actualized for me) wind on the bike and you have a seriously tough 1/2 IM.
Second Silverman full. The ride truly must be experienced to be believed. And the run is no better in terms of hills.
SavageMan - http://www.savagemantri.org
Bike includes 1 mile at 14% avg, 5 climbs with max pitch over 20%, including Westernport Wall at 31%. Get over that without unclipping and walking and you get a brick engraved with your name laid in the road itself. Most choose to take the longer way around. Only 48 made it clean in 2007. Check out the pictures: http://www.savagemantri.org/Westernport_Wall.html. And that’s just the start of a 7 mile climb over a mountain. 5800 ft elevation gain in 56 miles.
Run is only slightly more humane. 2 loops each including a 500 foot climb to the fire tower atop Meadow Mountain. 1500 ft elevation gain in 13.1 miles.
Chris McDonald won it and has also done World’s Toughest Half. Claims there is absolutely no comparison.
Listen to his interview about it here: http://www.savagemantri.org/Testimonials.html
2 Races from the UK.
Helvellyn tri. Nice climb on the bike course called "the struggle " 3 miles of pain. First 2 1/2 miles ave at 15 - 16 % then the last 1/2 mile at 20 %.
But the run is a killer 9 miles run up and over Helvellyn ( Englands 3 rd highest peak at 3100 ft ) .
The Full Cheeseman . This is based in the Yorkshire Dales in Northern England. The bike consists of a nice 25 % climb just about 50 mtrs into the bike.
Followed buy 4 climbs all at 25 % , and several smaller lumps.
Then the runner is a 12 miler out and back up Great Shunner Fell.
Hey Eliot,
Wasn’t Epic Camp or IMNZ hard enough for ya? St. Croix is pretty tough and “beastly”. Nothing tops the Cornet Peak Triathlon. You have to add that one to the list.
Thanks guys! Keep ‘em comin’…
What about escape from alcatraz? Brutal swim and brutal steep bike.
Cal Bearathlon, aka “World’s Toughest Sprint” 
Hey, you asked any distance!
I did the Alpe d’Huez long course last year. It’s definitely brutal and the hardest race I’ve ever done, but I doubt it could be called the hardest. From what I hear, the title for world’s toughest race is a close one between Norseman and Embruman. I would give the nod to Norseman.
BC
Not a triathlon, but Powerman Zofingen is a tough race.
Georgia Rock & Roll Half IM is pretty nasty… macon, GA in june with no shade
I agree that the Savageman has to rank in the top 5 worldwide.
Last year did St Croix 70.3 and only the run part of Savageman. St Croix has the advantage of heat and humidity but Savageman throws it all at you. The run was tough(most of it is tough scrabble trail), though I got lucky and had a really good split, friends who have completely done BOTH say Savageman is tougher without a doubt. Our biker looked like he’d been to Hell and back when he came in. Organizers even got thick fog to roll in for the swim!
Doing Triple T this year and looking forward to it. Norseman is hopefully in for 2009 and Shawgunks too if I ever get my crap together and enter soon enough. After that then I will rank them.
Another possibly correct answer to the Hardest race?..the one you are doing at the moment!
I was going to mention the same.
Fred.
SavageMan - http://www.savagemantri.org
Bike includes 1 mile at 14% avg, 5 climbs with max pitch over 20%, including Westernport Wall at 31%. Get over that without unclipping and walking and you get a brick engraved with your name laid in the road itself. Most choose to take the longer way around. Only 48 made it clean in 2007. Check out the pictures: http://www.savagemantri.org/Westernport_Wall.html. And that’s just the start of a 7 mile climb over a mountain. 5800 ft elevation gain in 56 miles.
Run is only slightly more humane. 2 loops each including a 500 foot climb to the fire tower atop Meadow Mountain. 1500 ft elevation gain in 13.1 miles.
Chris McDonald won it and has also done World’s Toughest Half. Claims there is absolutely no comparison.
Listen to his interview about it here: http://www.savagemantri.org/Testimonials.html
31% is no joke on a good road surface. I can’t imagine riding on that road surface. That is the worst surface I have ever seen. I wonder how many people could get up that climb is they put a better road in.
If you’re from Reno, I’m sure you’re familiar with the Donner Lake Triathlon, brutal bike course.
I’ll second a vote for Powerman Zofingen Duathlon. Done it a few times, and its definitely an arse kicker. Post race soreness is pretty high. I did IM Lanzarote last year; its tough… but easy compared to Zofingen. Lanzarote is a great race, but compared to Zofi, its climbs are more gradual and the run is much flatter. The second run at Zofi is really steep both up and down. I still love both races.
Another two I’d like to do are the l’Alpe d’Huez Triathlon and Val d’Aran Duathlon. The first run at Val d’Aran has/had some steep sections… as in the elites were literally on hands & knees scrambling up. Plus some big nasty climbs. If only the flights to France in July weren’t so darn expensive…
this isn’t a triathlon, but it is GENIUS:
Hi,
I have done both 3 times. The bike course can be harder on Norseman depending on the weather conditions otherwise Embrun’s bike is a real climbing course, “Tour de France” stage type with
l’Izoard. The run is definitely tougher on the Norseman but Embrun is not flat either.
SG