The town of Calella in Barcelona-Maresme will on Sunday again host the Challenge Barcelona international triathlon, which this year will double as the Spanish Long Distance Triathlon Championship.
A total of 1,350 triathletes will start the event, almost three quarters of whom will be international competitors representing 35 nationalities.
Challenge Barcelona has again attracted some of the biggest names in long distance racing.
Austria’s Andrej Vistica, winner of the European Long Distance Championships at Challenge Vichy (France), is a clear candidate for a podium finish.
He is up against some tough competition from the likes of Tom Lowe (GBR) recent winner at Challenge Henley-on-Thames, Austria’s Georg Swoboda, runner-up at Challenge Barcelona 2012, and Germany’s Markus Fachbach, fourth at the famous Challenge Roth event.
In the women’s event, Eva Wutti is not only an obvious candidate for the title, but also has an excellent chance of beating the event record, which was set by Great Britain’s Lucy Gossage in 2012 (08:58:43).
Lucie Zelenkova-Reed of the Czech Republic and Annette Finger of Germany are two of the other most prominent entrants, along with the UK’s Yvette Grice.
Challenge Barcelona also features more than 1,300 age group triathletes.
