From Triathlon to Gigathlon

The Gigathlon is a sporting event hosted and organized by the Swiss National Olympic Committee. The first Gigathlon took place in 1998 and was organized as a one day event. It included mountain biking, race biking, inline skating, swimming and running in this order. The race was open to individuals and teams of five.  The teams were allowed to substitute the inline skating by a wheelchair driver. The event was a big success with the competitors, who had loads of fun, and therefore was repeated in 2000.

In 2002, Switzerland did one of its infrequent and sporadic ‘National Exhibitions’ (shortly called Expo) the last of which had been in 1964, whereby a huge effort is made by everybody to represent all the divergent parts of the country in a cohesive exhibition area usually covering a whole region. Parallel to this, the Gigathlon was held as a seven (!) day race. The race contained each of the five sporting disciplines on a daily basis, and the possibility to enter as a team of five was retained, besides a singles and couples selection.

Since then, the Gigathlon has been held yearly as a race during one to three days and will continue in that vein until 2013, when a new seven day challenge will be organised. Every year in October, the next year’s event is announced on the official Gigathlon homepage. If you have a look at the routes of previous years, they are all marked for their technical value as well as for endurance and views. This is not only about sport, but also about seeing as much of the Swiss countryside as possible.

The necessary sports remain the same, swimming, race biking, mountain biking, inline skating and running, and the five are competed daily in a changing pattern. The categories are open to singles, doing all five sports in a day on their own, mixed couples, whereby the female part has to do at least two of the day’s sports, and teams of five, where everybody does one sport a day.

As an example, the 2009 race was held over three days, whereby the first was called Cool Down Friday for everybody to have a go at all disciplines in small warm up races. This was followed by Hilly Saturday, leading the race through Liechtenstein and Austrian territory, and Flowing Sunday making the way along the Lake of Constance. The race was of a total length of about 450 kilometres (300 miles) and went over 8300 metres (25000 feet) in height difference.

Are you feeling up to it? Start planning your holidays around the yearly racing dates in July then and keep informed on the official homepage. Your starting fee will include the tents and loads of useful materials as well, as the base for the race is usually a moving circus centrally organized by Swiss Olympics.

Find some videos here.