How to take part in virtual races
Think your race season is over? Think again! In this new lockdown age virtual racing is all the rage. It will help keep you motivated, give you purpose, and your competitive-edge razor sharp and ready
Zwift
As well as using Zwift to train, you can also use it to race, which is perfect for this new age of social distancing and lockdown. To set up you need to be on Strava and opt-in to share your ride data with ZwiftPower.com. You also need to have a heart rate monitor as most races require you to transmit heart rate data.
You are then good to find your race. Most races are categorised by fitness levels, using your functional threshold power.
Zwift also host run races once a month. Open to the entire community, teach race will have a different theme and give you an opportunity to test yourself against the clock over various distances and courses, or join your friends for a unique fun run!
Ironman
To combat the canceled races Ironman have set up a virtual race series, which allows athletes to earn points towards 70.3 World Championships in New Zealand, if life is back to normal by then. Virtual races will begin on Fridays at 6 p.m. GMT and close Sundays at midnight GMT. The first competitive race, IRONMAN VR1, takes place tomorrow April 3. Find out more at www.ironman.com
Ironman launches new virtual race series
Virtual Sports Racing
VirtualSportsRacing.com and Wilson Endurance Sports LLC, are also hosting fa virtual duathlon, for beginners and experienced athletes. The cycling component will be done indoors on any bike equipment with participants recording their times for the distance. The run portion may be completed indoors or outdoors, treadmill or trail, depending upon each athlete’s unique situation pertaining to COVID-19 restrictions and safety.
The challenge runs from March 23rd to April 30th 2020 and athletes may complete each segment in any order, at any time during these dates. Their fastest segment times will be recorded for their overall position with times normalised to the precise race distances.
The Treble Challenge
The UK’s dementia research charity, Alzheimer’s Research UK has launched a new virtual triathlon challenge The Treble Challenge. It started on 1 April and participants are challenged to complete running, cycling and swimming targets by the end of the year.
You can choose the Pioneer challenge (100km running, 500km cycling and 10km swimming), Epic challenge (300km, 1,500km, 30km) or Maverick challenge (distances of your choice), and you can clock up the kilometres in any order as long as you complete their goals by December 31. although given the current situation swimming kilometres will probably be clocked last!
To sign up go to triathlon.thetreblechallenge.org
220 Triathlon Team
Journalists, reviewers, coaches and athletes 
