As many of you would know, the standard ITU Aquathlon consists of a 750m open-water swim followed by a 5km run, the standard ITU WTS (World Triathlon Series) Triathlon consists of a 1.5km open-water swim followed by a 40km bicycle leg and then a 10km run, and the 70.3 Half Ironman is made up of a 1.9km open-water swim followed by a 90km bicycle ride and then a 21.1km run. We wanted to offer our own unique long-course multi-sport endurance race which was convenient & gear-light for all participants (ie. minus the logistics burden of a racing bicycle) and after some intensive brainstorming intervals spiked with caffeinated energy gels, the UltraAquathlon was born!
We told ourselves that to do justice to the “Ultra” tag, the distances had to be at least several multiples of the standard ITU Aquathlon ones, and on par with a 70.3 Half IM. So we said let’s multiply the 750m swim by three to hit 2.25km, and then multiply the 5km run by four and add 2km more to make it 22km – just that bit more than a half-marathon run. And henceforth the UltraAquathlon came into being.
At the same time, we wanted to cater to the distance & speed preferences of all athletes, and so we also offer the Standard 1.5km swim followed by 10km run which is in line with the swim & run distances used in the ITU WTS triathlons, the Sprint 750m swim followed by 5km run which is identical to the standard ITU Aquathlons, as well as the Dash 300m swim followed by 2km run specially for Juniors. And not forgetting the super-fun & exciting team relays where participants each compete in one of either race legs in any of the race categories!
