At the end of June, the Swiss Federal Council allowed events to go ahead, for up to 1,000 people. This is paving the way for the fourth edition of Challenge Davos at the end of August. However, the event on August 29th is limited to 700 competitors due to coronavirus-related regulations.
The triathlon in Davos, Switzerland, is part of the international Challenge Family series and the national TRI Circuit series.
For a long time, it looked to the event’s organising team that there would not be any triathlon events in Switzerland this year. Many events have already been cancelled or postponed; but the turnaround came at the end of June.
The Swiss Federal Council gave its green light for events up to 1000 people; and the news was a great relief for Thomas Fehr, President of the Challenge Davos event committee. He said “We are glad that in these special times our patience and hard work paid off.
“We are grateful that our partners always supported us in the last months, in particular the destination Klosters Davos. It’s great to have a common goal and to make something possible for our sport, the athletes and the destination. We look forward to an exciting triathlon weekend and to the premiere of our new side event, the FIS Rollski race on the Flüela Pass.”
The highlight of the event is once again the Challenge Davos middle distance triathlon. Here, athletes have to conquer the Flüelpass twice with a total 1770m of altitude gain.
Last year’s winner Pieter Heemeryck from Belgium has proved that the race course suits him. He will start for the fourth time this year and is a favourite after coming second twice and following last year’s victory. Also registered are the two athletes who finished second and third last year: Albert Moreno from Spain and Ruben Zepuntke from Germany. T
Challenge Davos will be the first Challenge Family race in Europe in 2020 and other pro athletes are also aiming to get in on the race action Maurice Clavel and Swiss locals Ronnie Schildknecht and Silvan Bruhin are also on the start list.
Pro triathlete Lena Berlinger will return to Davos. The two-time winner (2017/2018) missed last year’s event due to injury and would like to celebrate her third title this year. Berlinger is expected to have up to 20 pro competitors in Davos on August 29. Among them is Imogen Simmonds representing Switzerland.
Varied program
The event starts on Friday evening (August 28) with a swim & run for children. The Challenge Davos NightRun over 6km includes the special ‘Cheese-Sprint’ classification. Here, the fastest runner on the 150m intermediate sprint will win a ‘big and delicious swiss cheese from Molkerei Davos’. The run starts at sunset in Davos stadium.
For the first time ‘FIS Rollski Flüela Challenge’ will take place in 2020. Known as a cross-country skiing and roller ski centre, Davos is seen as an ideal venue for this ‘attractive roller ski race’. The athletes will start in Davos and finish on the Flüela Pass at 2,383m.
www.challenge-davos.ch
www.tricircuit.ch
