Online registration for the 2027 DATEV Challenge Roth sold out in record time on Monday, July 13, 2026. All individual starting slots were filled within 15 seconds, while registration for relay teams closed after just 18 seconds.
The event, widely regarded as the world’s largest long-distance triathlon, is scheduled to take place next year on July 4, 2027, in Bavaria, Germany. The race will host 3,500 individual athletes and 700 relay teams.
Felix Walchshöfer, Race Director of DATEV Challenge Roth, said “We are overwhelmed by this incredible interest and the trust the athletes have placed in us. It shows just how much global appeal Roth has.”
The organisers have restricted the overall athlete field size to preserve the event’s atmosphere, safety, and operational quality, meaning many interested participants were unable to secure a spot during the initial online wave.
However, athletes who missed out on a starting place still have an opportunity to enter via the event’s Late Entry Draw. The draw includes unused allocations from event partners and slots freed up by previous cancellations.
A minimum of 300 individual starting places and 25 relay places will be allocated through this secondary system. During the previous edition’s draw, more than 700 individual starting slots were eventually distributed to hopeful competitors.
The application window for the Late Entry Draw remains open until November 9, 2026, at 23:59 CET, with the final draw scheduled to take place on Wednesday, November 11, 2026.
To enter, athletes can purchase draw tickets for €10 each, with no limit on the number of tickets an individual can buy to increase their chances. From each ticket purchased, €5 will be donated directly to local charitable initiatives, including the ‘Weihnachten gemeinsam’ project and the children’s and youth fire departments in the Roth district. The remaining €5 is used to cover administrative and transaction fees.
The entry process for the 2027 event follows several registration phases that began earlier in the year. These included dedicated priority windows for local district residents, athletes who withdrew from the 2026 race, historic donors from the 2020 pandemic postponement, and a first-come, first-served on-site registration queue held in the triathlon park on July 6, 2026, the day after the 2026 race.
For registered athletes who need to withdraw from the 2027 race, the organisers have outlined a tiered, pro-rata refund structure alongside a guaranteed pre-emptive right to register for the 2028 event:
- Withdrawal by October 31, 2026: 90% refund of the entry fee
- Withdrawal by January 31, 2027: 80% refund of the entry fee
- Withdrawal by May 31, 2027: 70% refund of the entry fee
- Withdrawal by July 3, 2027 (12:00 local time): 60% refund of the entry fee
No refunds are available once an athlete has officially checked in and collected their race materials in Roth. Withdrawals must be processed online or via email via the official timing & registration partner.
