Athletes of the Bahrain Endurance 13 are out to challenge their versatility over distances and surfaces with short course and off-road races this weekend.

Joe Gambles will face off against Europe’s fastest athletes in non-drafting Olympic distance at the 5150 Zurich. He has been training in the French Alps in the two weeks since the ITU Long Course World Championships.

ITU World Champion Javier Gomez hopes to have a better day at WTS Hamburg than he did at the ETU Triathlon Championships in Geneva last week, where he crashed out of T1, rode on a broken wheel, and couldn’t finish due to a cut on his foot. He enters the sprint-distance race still ranked world number 1.

While Ben Hoffman has specialized in long-course racing over the past few years, this weekend he returns to some painful fun in the mountains of Colorado at the Xterra Mountain Championship as he again attempts to punch his ticket to the Xterra World Championships at Maui at the end of the year. The race covers a 1-mile swim, 25-kilometer mountain bike ride, and 9.3-kilometer trail run. A home town race for Hoffman he is keen to keep his podium streak in tact.

“I’m excited to be toeing the line this weekend. This is a great and gives me a chance to test my fitness against some of the best off-road guys out there at high altitude.

“It’s nice to have a little change of pace with the Xterra scene, and showing my ability to crossover between long course and off-road racing.

“The last month of training at home has been very consistent, so it’s time to bring the pain,” said Hoffman.

Related