TriStar200 Andalucía This Saturday
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The world’s first event from the new international sports events series created by Star Events will take place this Saturday. The gun will go off at 7 a.m. in the South of Spain in Cádiz to let the 240 participants commence the inaugural TriStar200 Andalucía.
The adventure long distance triathlon will take place over a total distance of 200km and entails 169km of cycling, 1km of swimming and 30km of running. Fun and ecological responsibility are in the focus of attention in the new event series. 10% of entry fees are directly donated to Lance Armstrong’s Livestrong Foundation to fight cancer. Participants can win total prize money of 70,000 EUR in the professional, amateur and relay categories.
TriStar200 Andalucía is the kick-off event for an international sports event series with a fresh concept, and a real novelty as far as race design is concerned.
The adventure triathlon starts with 169km of cycling through the region of Cádiz and passing through the meandering roads of the region. Four intermediate sprints with attractive cash prices will guarantee an exciting and competitive race right from the start. During the cycling, drafting is allowed – another novelty in long distance triathlon.
The one km swim takes place right after the cycling: athletes will dismount their bikes in Sanlúcar de Barrameda and cross the River Guadalquivir. Crosscurrents and the mix of the Atlantic’s salt-water and the river’s sweet water make the second portion of the race a unique experience.
The 30km run portion as the third part of the race will be the most challenging part, however. For the first time in history, the famous Doñana National Park opens for a sport event, and athletes will run the 30km entirely on the park’s sandy beach, in the middle of dunes and the Ocean and trying to cope with the elements – strong headwinds along the ocean front, heat and graceless sun. The National Park also lends its name for the event: Doñana Challenge is the tagline of this unique race experience, and a challenge it will be!
TriStar200 Andalucía’s idea attracted not only more than 115 amateur athletes and 38 relay teams of 3 athletes, but also some of the world’s best triathletes of our time. Paul Amey from Great Britain, the 3 times ITU Short Distance World Champion signed up “Because I enjoy competing in various distances of events and I love to travel to new and beautiful locations, TriStar events provide everything that I’m looking for outside of the normal Ironman and Ironman 70.3 races I compete in each year.” Lothar Leder, multiple Ironman Champion and triathlon legend will be there to win the race but also to get a taste of the new event label – Leder acquired the license to organise TriStar events in Germany with the first taking place on 6 June 2010 in Worms. Spainard Marcel Zamora from Barcelona, the four times winner of Ironman France in Nice and the three times winner of Monaco Ironman 70.3 even withdrew from last week’s Monaco Ironman race and preferred to focus entirely on the TriStar200.
On the women’s side, European Ironman Champion Nicole Leder from Germany will race against Italy’s Martina Dogana, who won Ironman France earlier this year. Watch out for Christel Robin from France, the 22 year old French National Long Distance Champion and winner of last Sunday’s Monaco Ironman 70.3. As a very strong cyclist she’s likely to lead the women’s race right from the start and she will do everything to not give that lead away to anyone else.
Coverage on the race will be available on the event’s official website www.tristar200Andalucía.cc.