Event organiser TEAMCHALLENGE, the Roth District Office and the Roth Police Headquarters have been working over the last few months to improve all safety standards on the DATEV Challenge Roth bike course and to make planning easier for all residents on race day.
In southern Germany, the Roth police department, the district office and event organising team have jointly developed a comprehensive traffic management plan. This will help residents along the bike course with access on Sunday, July 7, 2024, while the athletes complete the bike leg of the ‘world’s largest long-distance triathlon’.
The traffic management plan applies to the bike course from around 06:00 CET until 18:00 CET at the latest. At all other times, the bike course is open to all road users. As before, residents of towns and villages bordering the cycle route will be able to cross the route at several defined points. Residents living outside the cycle route can also still exit the route.
From 2024, athletes will be able to ride the DATEV Challenge Roth course completely without traffic. This helps with a safer and fairer race.
Previously, there have been a few sections of the DATEV Challenge Roth bike course where traffic travelled in the same direction as the participants, as well as two smaller sections where traffic met the participants in a separate lane.
District Administrator Ben Schwarz said “The events in Hamburg in particular have encouraged us to close the route completely to motorised traffic from this year onwards. If we can prevent even one accident in the future by removing traffic, the road closure will have been worth it.”
Challenge Roth Race Director Felix Walchshöfer said “We would like to thank the district administration and the authorities, as well as the police and fire services, for addressing the issue and actively supporting us in further improving the race.
“In addition to the safety of all those involved, our common goal is also to minimise the disruption caused by the race to the residents of the triathlon district. At the same time, we ask for your understanding that the event may result in traffic restrictions during certain hours on this one day of the year.”
The length of the bike course remains almost unchanged. The elevation gain of around 1500m also remains the same. The course is now available for download free of charge as a GPS file on the DATEV Challenge Roth website. The signposting of the adapted sections by the DATEV Challenge Roth bike course team will follow shortly.
Athletes can experience the course not only on-site in Roth but also worldwide and at any time via the digital cycling platform ROUVY. A team from ROUVY will soon be visiting Roth to film the route with the new adaptations and make it available to indoor cycling enthusiasts.
In order to further prepare the riders of support and press motorbikes on safety issues, TEAMCHALLENGE is also offering the DATEV Challenge Roth motorbike team a free safety training course in May this year.
In other developments, the number of race referees will be doubled and more starting groups with fewer participants will be introduced to even out the field.
