XTERRA England to offer ‘Try a Tri’
Sprint option for beginners and first-timers to try the off-road course
While some of the world’s finest off-road triathletes compete for honours, prize money and qualification slots at the XTERRA England Championships (Cranleigh, Surrey on 7th-8th September) hundreds more will be taking on the super-challenging 1.5km spring-fed lake swim, 30km trail bike leg and 10km woodland run.
Whilst XTERRA is fun and fosters a welcoming atmosphere to all, there is no doubt that part of that challenge is the course itself and as such the event’s organisers have introduced a sprint version of the race so that many more can ‘Try-a-tri’.
The race distances for this triathlon race will be 750m swim in a lake, 15km off-road bike, 5km trail run. The format of XTERRA is extremely friendly to first timers as there isn’t a car in sight in this great off-road festival!
This event is for multisport, triathlon, mountain biking and general fitness athletes of all abilities. The sprint race is open to everyone, it doesn’t matter whether you are an experienced age grouper or you’re simply entering your first triathlon with friends for fun. A relay team comprises three members each completing one discipline (a swim, bike or run) only. Entry to the Sprint race is £45 and entry to the Sprint as a relay team is £25 each.
As well as the XTERRA England Championship race and the ‘Try-a-tri’ Sprint race, the weekend will also witness a 6-hour mountain bike endurance race and a 1.5km and 3km open water swim, part of the H2Open Water Swim Series. All of these events are open for general entries.
The event will be a huge celebration of off-road sport and the weekend will be filmed for a 1-hour highlights programme, which will be screened on C4 and repeated extensively on the C4 network, Sky Sports and Eurosport.
The XTERRA England website is packed with this year’s race information and you can enter http://www.xterra-england.co.uk
Matt Baird
Editor of Cycling Plus magazine 
