World Triathlon

ETU proudly announces that there will indeed be a European Championship in 2015 for all the Winter Tri fans. We are all aware that organisers are finding it difficult to find venues and sponsors for the traditional run / MTB / ski format and that for so many out there, this is the true Winter Tri. At the eleventh hour the Spanish Federation has stepped in to offer one of their regular venues, Reinosa, a pretty municipality, in the northern autonomous region of Cantabria. 31st January 2015 is the date for your diaries.
If you head to Santander, the Capital of Cantabria, Reinosa is 40km north and close to the spring that forms the longest river in Spain, the Ebro. Reinosa has been organising winter tri events since 1990 and has seen cycling legends such as Pedro Delgado take part.
In order to ensure the quality of the course, the event has never tried to keep the run and MTB on snow. Instead the run and bike course will be on asphalt but, just to make it more interesting, will be a 10k run, then a 24k bike on roads that will lead the athletes from Reinosa up and up to the ski resort, Alto Campoo. This is one of the biggest ski resorts in the region and will involve a good climb up from the run course. The final section is a 10k cross-country ski.

This event will not be easy. Gone is the tough off-road biking in snow but that has been replaced by an equally challenging bike ride that will warm you up nicely for the ski. At the last race, the fastest elite male clocked 1:03:26 for the bike and the fastest woman posted a 1:13:40 time. A small gallery of photos is linked.
The course is the same for all elite, U23, juniors, AG and para (PT2, PT3 and PT4).
Watch this space for more information. If you want to see a bit more of the ski venue, try these links below.
http://cantur.com/instalaciones/webcam/3-alto-campoo/parametro-5
http://www.infonieve.es/estacion-esqui/alto-campoo/15/webcams/
http://www.onthesnow.co.uk/cordillera-cantabrica/alto-campoo/skireport.html

Prize money distribution. Elite men and women:
1st. 450 EUR
2nd. 375 EUR
3rd. 300 EUR
4th. 225 EUR
5th. 150 EUR

*** IMPORTANT REMIND (Approved by the ITU Technical Committee): The bike course is on asphalt, so traditional bike is recommended instead of MTB