Triterra - 1st Olympic Triathlon Competition in Azerbaijan

In recent years, more and more competitors have been testing themselves in long format triathlons. Triathlon is an activity that combines swimming, cycling, and running in one event. This has also led to a greater choice of events to compete in! The Ironman, is one of the most difficult one day events in the world. In Azerbaijan, it is a more younger kind of Sport. In October 2021, Triterra Triathlon Club, organized Olympic Distance Triathlon Competition for the first time in Azerbaijan, with the support of PMD - a leading real estate development company in the country. The Olympic distance in triathlon, is a 1500 metre swimming, 40 kilometre cycling, and 10 kilometre running, totaling a 51.5 kilometers long race. [breathing]October is cold Autumn weather in Baku. The average temperature in the shallow waters of Caspian Sea, is 15 Celsius degree. Considering this, the swimming part of the race was quite challenging. While not everyone is going for speed, Olympic triathlon requires diligent pacing, energy management, and significant stamina. [breathing]This requires triathletes to have greater endurance and stamina, but also have fast legs, and efficient transitions for competitive age groupers. In this event, more than 60 local and international triathletes competed each other, along the challenging island, and peninsula road. Most athletes spend well over an hour on the bike leg, only to run a 10 km directly afterward. A bike-run transition at that level of volume requires sufficient fitness that can’t be faked. Most Ironman events have a limited time of 16 or 17 hours to complete the race. High-caliber professionals, will often finish Olympic triathlons in around 2 hours or less. But taking into account that a lot of amateur racers have joined to the competition, the event lasted slightly over 4 hours. This was the first of one of it's kind, but not the last. The tradition will be long lasting the country.