This time next week many of you will be heading to or perhaps already arrived in Catania. Your destination will be Etna and the 2018 Etna ETU Winter Triathlon European Championships.

There has been some concern about the very recent lack of snow, following a good early fall late last year. The good news is that the weather conditions have changed and have changed to our favour.

The LOC have been working constantly with the Technical Delegate, Enrique Quesada to ensure that the race can go ahead. Enrique is one of the longest-serving ITU Level III officials and plays an active roles in the delivery of training to other officials seeking to be part of the very top level of international officials and he will be working alongside one of the most experienced event organisers of winter events, Marco Zaffaroni. Marco is a highly experienced alpinist, having climbed Everest a number of times and really is a man of the mountains with a unique sense of how conditions can change. His control of the ETU championships in 2012  ensured a successful event.

So, the news …. Is that heavy snow has been falling over the past few days and that the event will go ahead. Please click this link to read the letter from Mario Lombardo, President of the Regional Committee of the Italian Triatlon Federation for Sicily.

Check the weather yourself using this link.

For daily updates, check out the event Facebook page.

If you are going, make sure you have your camera. Not many people can say that they have raced a European Championships in the shadow of an active volcano.