Cross triathlon and cross duathlon have grown and grown and without doubt one of the main factors has been the successful cooperation between ETU and TNatura. Bringing more athletes to races that are organised in the most spectacular locations has raised the profile of off-road tri and du events and it is great to see that this year the Cross Triathlon Championships will take place in Schluchsee.
Already the comments coming back from athletes down there are full of praise for the location. A tough two-lap course over 1,500m for the swim, followed by a forest ride of 30k, again two laps and a final 10k over four laps. This is never going to be easy, especially as this region is between 700m and 1,500m above sea-level.
For the women it will once again be a battle between the greats. On home soil and obviously hoping for a victory will be Kathrin Müller. She will defending her victory from last year but bringing with her a huge amount of media attention. For the German-speakers amongst you, just have a read of this great article in the BZ 'Ein traumhaftes Wettkampfareal'.
Her position on the podium is by no means assured as she is up against European silver medallist from Switzerland, Renata Bucher and Helena Erbenová the world bronze medallist. On paper Muller should have the edge here but this is cross triathlon and so many things can go wrong.
Click here for the start list for the elite women
Amongst the men don’t expect to see a runaway winner. There are the world’s best athletes racing here this weekend. Wearing number 1 is Kris Coddens. This Belgian athlete stormed the ETU TNatura European Championships last year but missed out on the podium at the Worlds. His racing since took him to gold, gold and most recently bronze. He is the man to beat. Up against him is 2014 silver medallist, Arthur Forissier. After a disappointing 14th at the worlds he will be looking to pull something out of the bag for tomorrow.
Ready for the race and also from Belgium is Jim Thijs. Never getting better than a bronze at these events, this may be the weekend he comes good. Another one to watch is Jan Kubicek. This Czech athlete is consistently strong and could upset the podium. Moving from the snow is Russian multi-world champion winter triathlete Pavel Andreev. A podium might be a bit of a wish for this strong athlete but just watch the results and then look at his stellar results on the snow. Also moving to the cross is Belgian Powerman superstar Rob Woestenborghs.
Click here for the start list for the elite men
All information about the event, including start lists for the Juniors, U-23, ParaTri and Age group athletes can be found on the ETU Website.