The XTERRA European Championship returns to Zittau, Germany, for a weekend of full distance and televised Short Track off-road triathlon racing on Friday and Saturday, August 20-21.
It’s the 12th time XTERRA has raced around Olbersdorfer Lake on the edge of Zittau, a historic town near the Polish and Czech borders, and the fourth time it’s hosted the XTERRA European Championship.
As the name suggests, XTERRA Short Track is a fast, multi-lap, made-for-TV event combining two 200m swim laps with an exit in-between, four 1.5km mountain bike laps complete with jumps and berms, and two 1.3km run loops. Winning times are in the 30-40 minute range.
The women’s Short Track race starts at 15:20pm CEST (09:20 ET) followed by the men at 16:35 (10:35 ET) and both will be broadcast live on Facebook.com/xterraeurope.
The women’s elite field is impressive with 5x XTERRA European Tour Champ Helena Karaskova-Erbenova, reigning XTERRA European Champ Morgane Riou and 2019 XTERRA Asia-Pacific Tour Champ Carina Wasle. There are also four women who have won an XTERRA major this season with Loanne Duvoisin (Czech Champ), Sandra Mairhofer (Scanno Champ), Solenne Billouin (XTERRA France + Belgium Champ), and Eleonora Peroncini (Switzerland Champ).
Men’s elite race stars include 2019 XTERRA European Champion Arthur Serrieres who has already won four full-distance XTERRA races this year. His friend and rival Arthur Forissier is the reigning ITU Cross Tri World Champ who has won both XTERRA Short Track events so far this season. In addition, there is 7x World Champ Ruben Ruzafa, the uprising Maxim Chane fresh off full-distance wins at XTERRA France and Italy-Scanno, Short Track speedsters Jens Emil Slot Nielsen and Lukas Kocar, and home country legend Jens Roth.
On Saturday, the XTERRA European Championship race will be contested over the traditional full distance course that combines a 1.5km swim, 37km single loop mountain bike course, and 10km trail run.
The entire elite field will take part in both events, with a US$7,500 purse up for grabs during Friday’s Short Track spectacle and US$25,000 on the line in Saturday’s championship race.
